PENNSYLVANIA
Verdict
[Trial Narrative and Resources – BishopAccountability.org]
Marci A. Hamilton
Survivors of Sexual Abuse Prevail in Pennsylvania: The Lynn and Sandusky Cases Show Us What Justice Looks Like
Remember this date: June 22, 2012. That was the day that Msgr. William Lynn and Jerry Sandusky were each taken from their separate courtrooms in Pennsylvania and escorted to jail, after each had been convicted by a jury of his peers of committing crimes against children. That is justice. …
Msgr. William Lynn: Convicted on 1 of 3 Counts
On the very same day the Sandusky verdict was read, the beleaguered jury in the trial of Msgr. William Lynn finally emerged—after 11 weeks of testimony and 12 ½ days of deliberations—to convict Lynn on a charge of the endangerment of children.
This was the first time anyone in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church had been criminally convicted for the role he played in the corrupt system that has covered up the sexual abuse of children around the globe. It took ten years—from the convening of the first grand jury to today—for prosecutors to fully examine how the Philadelphia Archdiocese had handled child predators among the clergy, but it was a busy ten years for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. Their yeoman’s labors paid off in true justice, with Lynn being taken directly from the courtroom to jail.
The jury struggled with a conspiracy charge, partly because of the confusing instructions they received. There is also good reason to question the jury’s banker’s schedule in this case. The Sandusky jury deliberated for twenty hours in just two days. In contrast, there were weeks when the Lynn jury barely cracked 20 hours of deliberations.
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