Supreme Court Reinstates Lynn's Conviction

By Gina Passarella and Lizzy McLellan
Legal Intelligencer
April 27, 2015

http://www.thelegalintelligencer.com/home/id=1202724677054/Supreme-Court-Reinstates-Lynns-Conviction?mcode=1202617075166&curindex=0&slreturn=20150327170606

The state Supreme Court has reinstated the conviction of the former secretary of clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, finding a conviction for endangering the welfare of a child does not require actual supervision of the child.

The court’s split decision in Commonwealth v. Lynn reverses a Pennsylvania Superior Court decision that found Monsignor William Lynn could not have been convicted for endangering the welfare of children he never supervised.

“On the commonwealth’s appeal, we reverse the Superior Court, concluding that there is no statutory requirement of direct supervision of children,” Justice Max Baer said for the majority. “Under the facts presented at trial, [Lynn] was a person supervising the welfare of many children because, as a high-ranking official in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, he was specifically responsible for protecting children from sexually abusive priests.”

The court vacated the Superior Court’s ruling and sent the matter back to that court.

Baer was joined in the majority by Justices J. Michael Eakin, Debra Todd and Correale F. Stevens. Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor issued a dissent.

Thomas Bergstrom, Lynn’s defense attorney, said he was disappointed with the court’s ruling, which he said is “troubling because it makes it pretty clear because one can be convicted of the statute without even knowing the child exists.”

Bergstrom said he hasn’t decided his next step, which could include seeking certiorari at the U.S. Supreme Court on the constitutional issue of the ex post facto application of the statute on endangering the welfare of children. Bergstrom said he could also go back to the Superior Court given that court didn’t review certain issues on appeal given its decision to reverse on the supervision grounds.