PHILADELPHIA (PA)
The Associated Press
By By MARYCLAIRE DALE
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Roman Catholic church official will remain in prison while he fights his landmark conviction for failing to protect a boy from a predator priest.
A judge on Monday deemed Monsignor William Lynn’s conduct too serious to warrant bail, despite defense arguments that the felony conviction may well be overturned, because Lynn wasn’t the immediate supervisor of any accused priests.
“This is the first case in the history of the commonwealth where (endangering the welfare of a child) has been applied to a supervisor on Monsignor Lynn’s level,” defense lawyer Jeffrey Lindy said. …
Lynn’s lawyers are “strongly convinced that there were many errors at trial and the sentence is disproportionate to other punishments meted out to administrators for this same charge,” the archdiocese said in a statement. “We hope that the ultimate decision in Monsignor Lynn’s regard is just and merciful.”
The church spent millions on defense lawyers during an extraordinary 10-year criminal investigation. The late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, Lynn and other church leaders testified repeatedly — with lawyers at their side — before the first of two grand juries. Prosecutors concluded that at least 63 predator-priests had worked in Philadelphia, often for decades.
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