Lawyers for Monsignor William Lynn and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office on Tuesday argued their cases for and against reinstatement of the cleric’s historic 2012 child endangerment conviction before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Harrisburg.
The justices rendered no decision on Tuesday after the brief proceeding, said Assistant District Attorney Hugh Burns.
Prosecutors had maintained the monsignor had participated in a church cover-up of molestations of minors they said were perpetrated by priests, and reassigned those clerics to positions in which they would have continued access to children.
Lynn was later sentenced to three to six years in prison. Lynn’s attorneys maintained during the trial and as they appealed the conviction that Pennsylvania’s child endangerment statute did not apply to their client since he did not directly supervise children. In late 2013, Superior Court judges agreed with that argument and reversed Lynn’s conviction.
The DA’s office appealed to Pennsylvania Supreme Court to reinstate the conviction. Although Lynn was freed from prison after serving 18 months, he remains confined to the rectory of St. William’s church in the Northeast while the case proceeds.
Lynn’s attorney, Thomas Bergstrom, said he believes the case will be over if the justices reject the DA’s appeal of Lynn’s conviction reversal. However, if the justices find for the DA and reinstate Lynn’s conviction, it’s possible the case can be appealed again to Superior Court because that court’s judges reversed the conviction on just one issue, Bergstrom said. ••
