PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
JOSEPH A. SLOBODZIAN, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
POSTED: Monday, April 27, 2015
Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court on Monday reinstated the child-endangerment conviction of Msgr. William J. Lynn, the first Catholic Church official found guilty for his role supervising priests in the clergy sex-abuse scandal.
Writing for the 6-1 majority of the state’s high court, Justice Max Baer said the state Superior Court erred in reversing Lynn’s conviction because he did not directly supervise children.
“That which is supervised is the child’s welfare,” wrote Baer. “Under the facts presented at trial, [Lynn] was a person supervising the welfare of many children because, as a high-ranking official in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, he was specifically responsible for protecting children from sexually abusive priests.”
Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor was the lone dissent, writing that he did not believe Lynn could be convicted for conduct under the amended child-endangerment law because the conduct occurred before the law changed.
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