Monsignor William Lynn Gets Date for New Trial After Release from Prison

PENNSYLVANIA
NBC 10

[with video]

By Morgan Zalot

Two days after he walked free from a northeastern Pennsylvania prison on bail, Monsignor William Lynn, accused of shielding pedophile priests, learned when he’ll face a new trial.

Lynn served nearly three years in prison before a judge granted him bail earlier this week after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s decision to overturn his conviction, granting him a new trial. At a hearing Thursday morning, a Philadelphia judge set Lynn’s new trial for May 2017.

In the wake of Lynn’s release, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams vowed to re-try the former Archdiocese of Philadelphia official, contending that he endangered thousands of children throughout the city’s Catholic parishes when he knowingly transferred child-molesting priests to cover up abuse.

Lynn’s now-overturned conviction is historical, because he is the first Roman Catholic Church official in the United States ever to be charged with shielding pedophile priests.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.