Jury Selection in Pa. Priest Abuse Resumes

UPI
February 22, 2012

www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/02/22/Jury-selection-in-Pa-priest-abuse-resumes/UPI-78291329937555/?spt=hs&or=tn

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Jury selection entered the second day Wednesday in the sex-abuse and child-endangerment trial of three Philadelphia priests, official said.

Six defense attorneys and three prosecutors spent much of the session examining questionnaires filled out by 250 potential jurors.

William Brennan, a defense attorney for the Rev. James J. Brennan, accused of sexually abusing a boy in the 1990s, told The Philadelphia Inquirer the jury selection could take weeks, indicating one potential juror who made the first cut had written on a questionnaire, "As a Catholic, I am disgusted by these allegations."

James Brennan faces sex-abuse charges along with Edward V. Avery, who was removed from the priesthood in 2006, and Monsignor William J. Lynn, who is accused of child endangerment by reassigning accused priests to new assignments where they had access to more children.

Lynn is the first church official in the nation to be prosecuted for covering up priest sex abuse, the newspaper said. All three men have entered not guilty pleas.

Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said Wednesday, the second day of jury selection, the process could take a month. Juror interviews were expected to begin Monday.