PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial
TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2016
By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net
It’s supposed to be a sober exchange of appeal briefs. But the battle now before the state Supreme Court over the fate of Msgr. William J. Lynn has turned into a brawl.
Lynn is the former secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004, who was convicted in 2012 on one count of endangering the welfare of a child, namely Danny Gallagher, the “lying, scheming” former altar boy also known as “Billy Doe.”
In December, the state Superior Court, for the second time in three years, overturned Lynn’s conviction, and ordered a new trial. Lynn, serving a three to six year prison term, has remained in jail, pending an appeal by District Attorney Seth Williams to the state Supreme Court.
The first time the state Superior Court reversed Lynn’s sentence, in December 2013, the D.A. appealed to the state Supreme Court for a review. Meanwhile, Lynn got out jail on house arrest. In April 2015, the state Supreme Court ruled in the D.A.’s favor, and Lynn was sent back to jail, where he remains. So the D.A. hopes that lighting strikes twice.
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