PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial
By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net
Thomas A. Bergstrom, the defense lawyer for Msgr. William J. Lynn, is seeking a return visit before a panel of three state Superior Court judges who previously ruled that his client should get out of jail immediately.
Bergstrom also is seeking permission to brief that Superior Court panel on other appeal issues that the defense lawyer hopes will get his client a new trial.
In response, top appeal lawyers for District Attorney R. Seth Williams argued that Bergstrom was “judge-shopping.” Furthermore, the D.A. asserted that the state Superior Court panel of judges that previously ruled on the Lynn case had made a “material misrepresentation of the law.” Because of that material misrepresentation, the district attorney argued in his brief, it would constitute an “appearance of impropriety” if the same panel were allowed to rehear the case.
On Wednesday, Bergstrom filed a reply brief that claimed the D.A.’s accusation of judge-shopping was “unfounded and insulting.” Regarding the alleged material misrepresentation of the law, Bergstrom wrote that the charge was “disturbing.” He argued that the Superior Court panel of judges was best-suited to rehear the Lynn case because they are already familiar with it.
Msgr. Lynn is the former secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who was convicted three years ago by a jury on one count of endangering the welfare of a child [EWOC].
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