In the first conviction of a high-level Roman Catholic official in the nationwide priest sexual abuse scandal, a monsignor in the Philadelphia Archdiocese was found guilty Friday of child endangerment for covering up allegations of abuse of children.
Msgr. William J. Lynn, who supervised priests for the archdiocese, was accused of reassigning pedophile priests in an attempt to protect the church's reputation and avoid lawsuits. A jury acquitted him, however, of conspiracy and another endangerment charge.
Also on trial in the landmark case was the Rev. James J. Brennan, accused of rape and child endangerment. The jury of seven men and five women deadlocked on those charges, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial on those counts. Prosecutors could decide to retry Brennan.
By assigning pedophile priests to unsuspecting parishes, prosecutors said, Lynn exposed more children to potential abuse while putting the church's interests ahead of protecting children. Prosecutors produced a list that Lynn compiled in 1994 naming 37 priests in the archdiocese who had been identified as pedophiles or were suspected of sexually abusing children.
Lynn, 61, faces up to seven years in prison on the endangerment conviction. He was denied bail and will remain in custody while awaiting a sentencing hearing Aug. 13.
Friday's verdicts came on the 13th day of jury deliberations in the two-month trial in Philadelphia's Common Pleas court.
The trial was noteworthy because Lynn was not accused of sexual misconduct, but of covering it up. More than a dozen witnesses testified that they were sexually abused by priests who had been allowed to serve in their parishes even after being suspected or accused of abuse.
One witness described how, as an eighth-grader, he had been sent by his mother to a priest for counseling after being raped by a family friend. The priest raped him too, he testified.
"I can't explain the pain because I'm still trying to figure it out, but I have an emptiness where my soul should be," the witness said.
A nun testified that she and two female relatives were sexually abused by a priest who was described by a church official as "one of the sickest people I ever knew."
A former seminary student testified that he had been repeatedly raped during his high school years by a priest inside the priest's home.
Two witnesses described being abused by one priest, Edward Avery, when they were boys. Another testified that Brennan attempted to rape him at age 14.
The trial judge allowed prosecutors to tell jurors about 20 of the 63 accused pedophile priests in the archdiocese who were singled out in a grand jury report during a widespread investigation into church sexual abuse in Philadelphia. The priests were not prosecuted because the statute of limitations had expired.
Lynn testified several times before the grand jury.
As secretary for clergy for the 1.5-million-member diocese from 1992 to 2004, Lynn was charged with supervising more than 800 priests and investigating allegations of sexual abuse. He was accused of recommending that Brennan and Avery continue to serve in parishes in the nation's sixth-largest archdiocese.
Brennan, 48, was accused of raping a 14-year-old boy in 1996. Avery pleaded guilty before trial of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy in 1999 and is serving a 2½- to five-year prison sentence.
Prosecutors said Lynn lied to parents about pedophile priests in an attempt to protect the archdiocese, and that he and other church officials were lax in responding to credible reports of abuse. In some instances, prosecutors said, Lynn suggested to accused priests that youngsters had enticed them into sexual contact.
In testimony that lasted three days, Lynn told jurors that he compiled the list of pedophile priests in order to address allegations of sexual abuse. Before the trial, archdiocese lawyers gave prosecutors a handwritten church memo that suggested Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua had ordered the list destroyed.
Before the trial, a judge ordered Bevilacqua to submit to questioning at a closed-door hearing in November. Jurors did not see his seven hours of testimony.
Lynn testified that only Bevilacqua, who died in January at 88, had the authority to remove pedophile priests.
"I did my best with what I could do," Lynn testified.
Lynn said he tried to persuade some accused priests to leave their posts and undergo treatment. And he testified that medical experts had advised him not to contact alleged victims because they would be unwilling to discuss details of sexual abuse.
While arguing Friday for bail for Lynn, defense attorney Jeffrey M. Lindy told Judge M. Teresa Sarmina: "You can't seriously think that Msgr. Lynn, after being investigated after 10 years, is going to flee," the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Assistant Dist. Atty. Patrick Blessington countered by telling the judge: "This is a case that is going to call for a tough jail sentence."
Blessington added: "Let's start today. Today, to jail. That's justice."
david.zucchino@latimes.com
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar