NEW YORK
New York Post
By ALEX GINSBERG
January 24, 2006 -- A Catholic priest on trial for sexually abusing an 11-year-old altar boy made a last-minute deal yesterday — pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of child endangerment to avoid jail time.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Robert Collini, clearly exasperated with the offer, signed off on the pact, but made clear he would have preferred that the Rev. Joseph Byrns, 63, do time behind bars.
"Were there to be an offer by the court, this would not be the offer," Collini said.
But he nonetheless took the plea from Byrns, who admitted only that he endangered the boy's welfare sometime between March and April 2002 at St. Rose of Lima Church in Kensington.