Philadelphia msgr lynn

Thoughtful commentary welcome. Trolling, harassing, and defaming not welcome. Consistent with 47 U. Archdiocese Sex Abuse Trial. Because a couple of corrupt Philadelphia D.

And when you're a corrupt D. So last week in state Superior Court, the appeals court taking up the Lynn case for the fourth time in ten years ruled in favor of the defense, as they have in all four appeals.

Specifically, the Superior Court upheld the trial court judge's decisions to limit the amount of Msgr. Lynn's prior voluminous prior court testimony that can be presented to the jury during a retrial. While the trial judge, Gwendolyn Bright, wanted to limit the testimony presented in court to the single case against Msgr. Lynn, the D. It's a great idea, only a couple of decades too late. It would also help to have a credible victim of sex abuse to put on the witness stand, of which there are thousands.

Instead of hanging your case, as former D. Williams did, on a lying, scheming altar boy dubbed Billy Doe who's a complete fraud. Lynn, who was convicted by a jury in on one felony count of endangering the welfare of a child, has had his guilty conviction overturned twice on appeal.

In the meantime, the monsignor has already served his time -- 33 months out of his original minimum sentence of 36 months, plus 18 months of house arrest. So what's the point of putting the monsignor on trial again? To make matters worse, for the past five years, the publicity-shy Judge Bright has imposed an endless gag order on all the lawyers in the case, so they can't talk to the media. Under the gag order, the judge required lawyers on both sides of the case to file all their briefs and motions under seal.

The net effect of the gag order -- the media and public didn't even know what the judge and the D. Until now. In last week's 44 page opinion written by state Superior Court Judge Jack Panella, the appeals judge divulged what the issues were in the case, and why Judge Bright is angry with the D.

For starters, this is the second time that the D. First, some background. In , the late, corrupt Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua appointed Msgr. Lynn, known for his slavish loyalty to the church hierarchy, as his secretary for clergy, a position he held until In that job, the monsignor, who had no training of any kind, was responsible for investigating allegations of sex abuse against priests, and keeping a lid on pervert priests by putting the most dangerous offenders out to pasture.

In the retrial of the Lynn case, the D. But the second time the state Superior Court overturned the guilty verdict in the Lynn case, in , the appeals court ruled that the original trial judge, M. Teresa Sarmina, had abused her discretion by allowing prosecutors to present 21 supplemental sex abuse cases as evidence against Lynn.

The supplemental cases, many of which took place before Lynn was appointed secretary for clergy, consumed 25 of the 32 days in court that the prosecution devoted to presenting its original case against Lynn.

The net effect of the supplemental cases was that the prosecutors essentially put the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on trial. And in the process, served up Msgr. Lynn as the scapegoat for decades of priestly sex abuse crimes committed against children.

When the state Superior Court overturned Lynn's conviction the second time, the court said that the prejudicial effect of telling the jury about the 21 extra cases of sex abuse outweighed the probative value of the cases. So when it was time to retry the case, Judge Bright told the prosecutors no, you're not going to be allowed to present nine supplemental cases as evidence this time around.

More than three years after his release from state prison, Monsignor William Lynn is scheduled to face a familiar, but unwelcome sight: a Philadelphia jury. Lynn, the first U. While he was secretary for clergy, city prosecutors say Lynn recommended the Archdiocese of Philadelphia transfer a priest, who had been credibly accused of abusing children, to St.

Jerome parish in Northeast Philadelphia. And that priest, Edward Avery, sexually molested a year-old altar boy there in the late s. The list will cover abuse allegations against former priests Robert Brennan and Nicholas R. Cudemo, as well as the late Rev.

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