PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Priest Abuse Trial Blog
Ralph Cipriano
Shortly before court opened Monday, defense lawyer Jeff Lindy was trying to make a point with the judge before the jury entered the courtroom.
“The archdiocese isn’t on trial, the monsignor is on trial,” Lindy asserted.
At issue was whether the prosecution was justified in treating current employees of the archdiocese as hostile witnesses, as was the case last week when Bishop Robert P. Maginnis testified. The retired 78-year-old bishop, the former vicar of Montgomery County, didn’t seem to have much of a memory on the witness stand. He told prosecutors he couldn’t recall many details about a 1985 incident where the feds raided a rectory in Montgomery County, and arrested a priest, Father Edward DePaoli, after they found $15,000 worth of foreign kiddie porn under his bed.
You’d think an incident like that would stick in your mind. The bishop, however, said he couldn’t remember; the prosecution thought he was stonewalling.
“The archdiocese is not a hostile party, the archdiocese is not a party,” Lindy argued. He was talking about the case of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. William J. Lynn, Edward V. Avery and James Brennan, now playing in Courtroom 304 of the Criminal Justice Center.
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