Breaking News: According to Rocco Palmo: Lynn acquitted of one count of conspiring with former priest Brennan of endangering children. Lynn found guilty on one count.
After 12 days of jury deliberations,Monsignor William Lynn, one of former Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua’s top lieutenants in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, knows his future. A Philadlephia jury
Lynn had been charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child by allowing dangerous priests to continue in the ministry in roles in which they had access to children, and one count of conspiracy to protect a priest accused of abuse. The difficulty with which the jury appeared to have in determining Monsignor Lynn’s guilt reflects the unprecedented nature of the criminal charges. The Lynn case marks the first time a US Catholic priest faced criminal charges for endangering children, not by physically or sexually abusing children but rather, allowing it to happen and conspiring to cover-up for those priests who did sexually abuse children.
According to Philly.com, “On Wednesday, jurors declared they were deadlocked on all but one count. Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina instructed them to keep talking.
Lynn, 61, was the first church official nationwide to be tried for enabling or covering up clergy-sex abuse. He was accused of recommending that Brennan and another priest, Edward Avery, be allowed to live or work in parishes in the 1990s despite signs that they might abuse minors.”