Philly priest guilty of child endangerment, acquitted of conspiracy
Monsignor William Lynn walks to the Criminal Justice Center before a scheduled verdict reading, Friday, June 22, 2012, in Philadelphia. / AP Photo/Matt Rourke
(CBS/AP) PHILADELPHIA - A Roman Catholic church official was convicted Friday of child endangerment but acquitted of conspiracy in a groundbreaking clergy-abuse trial, becoming the first U.S. church official convicted of a crime for mishandling abuse claims.
Monsignor William Lynn helped the archdiocese keep predators in ministry, and the public in the dark, by telling parishes their priests were being removed for health reasons and then sending the men to unsuspecting churches, prosecutors said.
Lynn, 61, had faced about 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted of all three counts he faced — conspiracy and two counts of child endangerment. He was convicted only on one of the endangerment counts, leaving him with the possibility of 3 1/2 to seven years in prison.
The jury could not agree on a verdict for Lynn's co-defendant, the Rev. James Brennan, who was accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy.
Lynn has been on leave from the church since his arrest last year. He served as secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, mostly under Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.
No matter the verdict, the trial exposed how deeply involved the late cardinal was in dealing with accused priests. Rarely an hour of testimony went by without Bevilacqua's name being invoked.
Bevilacqua had the final say on what to do with priests accused of abuse, transferred many of them to new parishes and dressed down anyone who complained, according to testimony. He also ordered the shredding of a 1994 list that warned him that the archdiocese had three diagnosed pedophiles, a dozen confirmed predators and at least 20 more possible abusers in its midst. Prosecutors learned this year that a copy had been stashed in a safe.
Lynn didn't react when the verdict was read and remained sitting in his chair, his head lowered, even when the judge took a brief recess to thank the jury. He also didn't acknowledge the dozen or so family members, some of whom were weeping, sitting behind him in the gallery.
The judge ordered that Lynn's bail be revoked and he was led to jail. The judge said she would at some point entertain a motion for house arrest.
With the verdict, jurors concluded that prosecutors failed to show that Lynn was part of a conspiracy to move predator priests around.
The jury, however, did find that Lynn endangered the victim of defrocked priest Edward Avery, who pleaded guilty before trial to a 1999 sexual assault.
Lynn had deemed Avery "guilty" of an earlier complaint by 1994, and helped steer him into an inpatient treatment program run by the archdiocese. But Lynn knew that Avery later was sent to live in a northeast Philadelphia parish, where the altar boy was assaulted.
Karen Polesir, a spokeswoman for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests who was outside the courthouse, said it was a historic trial because it revealed "the abuse and the cover-ups that have been going on in the Philadelphia archdiocese for a long time."
She said her immediate reaction to the verdict was tears.
"I'm brokenhearted for all the victims that were brave enough to come forward, and the whistleblowers that were brave enough to come forward," Polesir said. "I'm glad for the one count of guilty, but that is not enough to vindicate the victims and survivors. I feel that there was overwhelming evidence against Monsignor Lynn and that the decision is just heartbreaking."
Defense lawyers say Lynn alone tried to document the complaints, get priests into treatment and alert the cardinal to the growing crisis. Church documents show therapists had called one accused priest a ticking "time bomb" and "powder keg."
During the 10-week trial, more than a dozen adults testified about wrenching abuse they said they suffered at the hands of revered priests.
A former seminarian said he was raped by a priest throughout high school at the priest's mountain house.
A nun testified that she and two female relatives were sexually abused by a priest described by a church official as "one of the sickest people I ever knew."
A troubled young man described being sexually assaulted in the church sacristy in 1999 by Avery after the 10-year-old altar boy served Mass. Avery is serving a 2 1/2- to five-year prison term.
"I can't explain the pain, because I'm still trying to figure it out today, but I have an emptiness where my soul should be," another accuser testified. His mother had sent him to a priest for counseling as an eighth-grader because he'd been raped by a family friend. The priest then followed suit, he said.
Seven men and five women sat on the jury, along with eight alternates. Many have ties to Catholic schools or parishes, but said they could judge the case fairly. There are about 1.5 million Catholics in the five-county archdiocese, and Philadelphia neighborhoods were long identified by their local parishes.
Defense lawyers called the decision to send Lynn to prison overly harsh, given his ties to the community and lack of any prior criminal record. They said they would move for house arrest on Monday. Lynn will spend at least the weekend in a Philadelphia jail.
"He's upset. He's crushed. He's in custody and he didn't want anything else but to help kids," defense lawyer Jeffrey M. Lindy said.
Brennan, Lynn's co-defendant, was accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy in 1996. With the jury unable to agree, the judge declared a mistrial on the attempted rape and child endangerment charges against him.
Lynn's lawyer, Thomas Bergstrom, pledged in opening statements in late March that the monsignor would not run from the sins of the church. However, he said in closing arguments that Lynn should not be held responsible for them.
He suggested his client was a middle manager-turned-scapegoat for the clergy-abuse scandal. Lynn, he said, documented the abuse complaints and did his best to get reluctant superiors to address it.
"And now, now of all things, the commonwealth wants you to convict him for documenting the abuse that occurred in the archdiocese, .... the evil that other men did. They want to hold him responsible for their sins."
Philadelphia prosecutors have been investigating the archdiocese for 10 years, since the national crisis erupted in the Boston archdiocese. Lynn testified several times before a grand jury that sat from about 2002 to 2005.
That panel produced a blistering report that identified 63 suspected child molesters in the archdiocese, but said no one could be charged because of legal time limits.
Afterward, then-District Attorney Lynne Abraham helped fight for state reforms that gave reluctant victims more time to come forward in Pennsylvania — and enabled her successor, Seth Williams, to charge Monsignor Lynn and four others last year based on more recent complaints.
In a hotly contested ruling in Lynn's case, Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina let prosecutors tell jurors about 20 of the accused priests named in the first grand jury report, even though they were never charged, because Lynn worked on their files to some extent.
Prosecutors said they showed a pattern at the archdiocese of lying about why priests were removed, sending them to "company doctors" at church-run therapy centers and failing to warn new parishes where they were later transferred.
"They put so many innocent children in danger," Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington said in his closing remarks, noting that it can take years or decades for victims to come forward. "That's what's so scary about this. We have no idea how many victims are out there."
By Bergstrom's count, the commonwealth spent about 36 of 40 trial days on the tangential cases.
An appeal based on the inclusion of that evidence is considered likely.
CBS Philadelphia reports that after the verdict, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia issued a statement which said in part:
"The lessons of the last year have made our Church a more vigilant guardian of our people's safety. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia is on a journey of reform and renewal that requires honesty and hope...
"The Archdiocese of Philadelphia offers a heartfelt apology to all victims of clergy sexual abuse. Now and in the future, the Church will continue to take vigorous steps to ensure safe church environments for all the faithful in Philadelphia."
Popular on CBSNews.com
- Tsarnaev friend implicates dead brother, self in murders 137 Comments
- Tornado victims start picking up the pieces
- Tornado's destructive path 17 Photos
- Up-close video of Moore, Okla., tornado Play Video
- Oklahoma tornado as seen by storm chasers Play Video
- Deadliest U.S. tornadoes 10 Photos
- Brigadier general suspended over altercation with woman
- Victims of deadly Oklahoma tornado 6 Photos
I guess that's how the game is played these days.
So be it. To all of you God haters, Christ haters and Church haters I simply say, In due time your foot shall slide.
It is imperative that Lynn serve his sentence in jail behind bars. Yes, he is a flight risk. In one diocese alone, Sacramento, 5 perpetrators have fled overseas., so the threat of Lynn to flee is real.
Plus, there needs to be a strong message sent to all church officials around the world that they can no longer get away with covering up sex crimes against innocent kids. Also keep in mind the Cardinal Bevilacqua was the bishop of the Pittsburgh diocese before he went to Philadelphia.
It is time to start protecting children instead of protecting predator clerics. Keep in mind that the Philly Archdiocese is not unique in how they handle child sex crimes, all other dioceses have secret archives and many bishops are still not removing accused predators from their parishes.
Also, because the jury was hung on the Fr James Brennan case, it does not mean that he is innocent, so if anyone has knowledge or has been harmed by Brennan we urge you to contact police.
Keep in mind your silence only hurts, and by speaking up there is a chance for healing, exposing the truth, and therefore protecting others.
Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, 636-433-2511
snapjudy@gmail.com
"Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests" and all clergy.
The only reason you are confused is because you are trying to deal with sleight of hand. The nonsensical proposition that these are holy men, who deserve to be allowed to commit horrendous crimes in secret while we all look the other way, and hope their predators do not pick on us or anyone we know. You are also forgetting the mountains of evidence that show they consistently lie, and consistently sacrifice innocent children to protect their own reputations and the church's assets.
If you stick to facts - that these are hypocrites who cannot be trusted to ever tell the truth on this subject, and about whom you cannot assume a depth of evil to which they will not descend to protect themselves, all the while proclaiming their self appointed right to tell everyone else what to do - you will not ever be confused again.
Sanity and reality are so refreshing after swimming in the murky depths of the lies of the catholic hierarchy.
The official policy is that the elders of the "Church" are supposed to handle the matter internally, without contacting the police. They do this so that shame will not be brought on the religion.
It's important that they keep a squeaky clean image to the public. Remember they believe they are the only "True" religion and all other Christian Churches are under the control of Satan. JW's are not supposed to sue other JW's or involve the police or courts.
They believe these are Satan's organizations and any crime by a JW should be dealt with internally.The elders will contact the police ONLY if they're forced to by state law. Otherwise they are forced to follow official policy from headquarters. Some states require that "priests" or "pastors" report child abuse to the authorities. If they are not forced to report them than they cover it up.
You might actually get a unreported pedophile knocking on your door next time they show up peddling pamphlets and selling "Eternal Life".
--
Danny Haszard *tell the truth don't be afraid* FMI http://www.dannyhaszard.com/sexabuse/index.htm