Support Group: Pa. Priest Verdict Heartbreaking

NECN
June 22, 2012

http://www.necn.com/06/22/12/Support-group-Pa-priest-verdict-heartbre/landing_nation.html?&apID=9e8b6d1b75464e74951dc5c06f63e28d

A spokeswoman for a sexual abuse victims support group says the verdict in the Philadelphia priest abuse trial was heartbreaking.

Karen Polesir is a spokeswoman for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. She was outside the courthouse as the verdicts were being read.

Monsignor William Lynn has been convicted of child endangerment. He is the first U.S. church official convicted of a crime for mishandling sex-abuse accusations.

But Lynn also was acquitted of two counts. And jurors couldn't agree on a verdict for his co-defendant, the Rev. James Brennan, who was accused of sexually abusing a teenager.

Polesir says she's "brokenhearted" for the victims and whistleblowers who came forward. She says she's glad for the guilty verdict, but that the overwhelming evidence should have led to other convictions.