web1_TTL080216hughes.bdy_.jpg

Happy birthday Eliza Jane Hughes!

web1_TTL080216piccotti.bdy1_.jpg

Happy birthday Nathan Piccotti!

<p>PHILADELPHIA &#8212; The city&#8217;s top prosecutor vowed on Tuesday to retry a former church official imprisoned for nearly three years over his handling of abuse complaints, even though the monsignor&#8217;s conviction has twice been overturned.</p><p>Monsignor William Lynn was the first U.S. Roman Catholic Church official ever charged or convicted of helping to shield child molesters within its ranks.</p><p>A judge on Tuesday agreed to release Lynn from prison days after the state Supreme Court threw out the conviction, concluding the 2012 trial judge allowed too many priest-abuse victims not directly tied to the case to testify. Prosecutors had called the witnesses to show a pattern of behavior at the Philadelphia Archdiocese.</p><p>Lynn was charged with endangering a boy by transferring a suspected predator-priest to his parish in the late 1990s.</p><p>His lawyer questioned District Attorney Seth Williams&#8217; intent to retry the case. Lynn, now 65, has served all but three months of his three-year sentence.</p><p>&#8220;I think we all know where Lynn stood in this (church) hierarchy. We all know that Lynn never touched a kid,&#8221; lawyer Thomas Bergstrom said after a hearing Tuesday in which Lynn was ordered released on his original $250,000 bond. &#8220;Whether he&#8217;s a scapegoat or not &#8230; we&#8217;re prepared to try a fair trial any day.&#8221;</p><p>Williams said there is &#8220;substantial evidence&#8221; against Lynn.</p><p>&#8220;My office takes the charges of institutional sexual abuse extremely seriously,&#8221; Williams said in a statement. &#8220;I will continue to use every available legal option at my disposal to prosecute pedophile priests and those who shield them.&#8221;</p><p>Lynn has been in and out of prison during his appeals. He was due to be paroled in October, but relatives instead planned to take him home Tuesday from a state prison in northeastern Pennsylvania. Lynn is due back in court Thursday to get a trial date. Despite two recent bouts with pneumonia, his spirits remain strong, Bergstrom said.</p><p>The accuser in Lynn&#8217;s case, a former altar boy who said he was raped by two priests and his fifth-grade teacher, has since settled a civil lawsuit against the archdiocese.</p><p>At Lynn&#8217;s initial trial, 21 other priest-abuse victims testified over several weeks, describing horrific sexual abuse by Philadelphia priests that stretched back for decades, long before Lynn&#8217;s tenure as secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004. Lynn knew about those cases because he read through their complaints, which were kept in a locked, secret file room. He also made a list of 35 priests accused of sex abuse.</p><p>The late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua had the list destroyed, according to a memo introduced at trial. A copy nonetheless survived.</p><p>The trial judge called Lynn &#8220;a monster in clerical garb who destroyed the souls of children.&#8221; But defense lawyers and other critics questioned why prosecutors charged a middle man in the church bureaucracy and failed to arrest the cardinals for whom he worked.</p><p>An advocacy group for clergy-abuse victims said Tuesday that his case put employers on notice that they must report child sexual-abuse complaints.</p><p>&#8220;Finally, a Catholic enabler &#8212; a church official who put kids in harms&#8217; way &#8212; has been punished. And he may be punished further,&#8221; said Karen Polesir, Philadelphia-area director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. &#8220;That should make many employers think again when they&#8217;re tempted to hide known or suspected child sex crimes.&#8221;</p><p>Bergstrom, though, said that if Lynn is convicted again, he could only be sentenced to complete the three months he has left to serve.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_111694975-12410d9a0c3041f78ac6c50d3e2370a5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">In this Jan. 6, 2014, file photo, Monsignor William Lynn leaves a bail hearing at the Center for Criminal Justice in Philadelphia. Lynn, a former Philadelphia church official imprisoned over his handling of abuse complaints is seeking bail after Pennsylvania&#8217;s highest court granted him a new trial. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/web1_111694975-12410d9a0c3041f78ac6c50d3e2370a5.jpg</photo0><caption0>In this Jan. 6, 2014, file photo, Monsignor William Lynn leaves a bail hearing at the Center for Criminal Justice in Philadelphia. Lynn, a former Philadelphia church official imprisoned over his handling of abuse complaints is seeking bail after Pennsylvania&#8217;s highest court granted him a new trial. </caption0><photoCredit0>Matt Rourke | AP Photo </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Maryclaire Dale</p><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

Ex-church official Msgr. Lynn gets bail, Philadelphia DA vows to retry him