Lynch Trial Continues without Other Abuse Allegations

By Amy Hollyfield
KGO
June 26, 2012

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/south_bay&id=8715292

Bombshell testimony will never be heard in the trial of a man accused of beating a priest he says molested him as a child. William Lynch is being tried for assaulting Father Jerry Lindner. Tuesday, the judge said past allegations of child molestation against Lindner cannot be introduced to the jury.

Tamara Roehm is Lindner's niece, and like Lynch says she was molested by her uncle as a child. The judge has now ruled Roehm and two other witnesses with similar abuse stories cannot testify in the assault case.

"This has been my whole life with this man; just seems he is getting away with something again," Roehm said.

In a dramatic opening statement, the prosecutor admitted Lindner abused Lynch decades ago. But Lindner denied it under oath and then refused to answer any more questions.

In a series of legal twists, the judge has thrown out Lindner's entire testimony and will not allow other molestation victims to testify.

Lynch's attorneys say their defense strategy as to the 2010 confrontation between the two men has been gutted.

"Society is the victim here because there is a man in Los Gatos who is a rapist and molests children and is allowed to go free," attorney Pat Harris said. "Society is the victim here."

The judge ruled that without any of Lindner's testimony there is no reason to attack his credibility on the molestation issue and both sides must focus on the assault itself.

"The question for the jury is going to be, is this a legally justified assault, it may be morally justified but what is the legal defense here and now a lot of that issue is not before the jury," legal observer Steve Clark said.

Lynch is still expected to take the stand and tell his side of the story to the jury, but Roehm says the court has silenced her voice and others.

"I am just so frustrated and sick to my stomach and it's just so unfair," she said.

Also Tuesday, the judge denied a third motion for a mistrial.

Several prosecution witnesses took the stand Tuesday -- a paramedic, two sheriff's deputies and a cellphone technology expert who testified that Lynch's cellphone was in Los Gatos at the time of the assault.