PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial
By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net
Lawyers for Msgr. William J. Lynn say the Philadelphia district attorney is resorting to hysteria, emotion and histrionics in his legal appeal to send their client back to jail.
District Attorney Seth Williams has asked the state Supreme Court to overturn a Dec. 26th opinion from a panel of three Superior Court judges that reversed Msgr, Lynn’s prior conviction on one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
In its appeal to the state Supreme Court, the district attorney said the reversal by the Superior Court panel sent a “dismal message” to the survivors of sex abuse. Also, because of the Superior Court’s overly broad language and “misapplication of law,” the district attorney warned that the state may not be able to protect future victims of child abuse.
Lynn’s lawyers saw it differently.
“The Commonwealth willfully the distorts the Superior Court’s decision, which “simply concluded” that the state’s original child endangerment law did not apply to Lynn, as he was “neither a parent, guardian, nor other person supervising the welfare of a child,” Thomas A. Bergstrom and Allison Khaskelis argue in their 27-page response to the D.A.’s petition filed today.
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