Monsignor gets 3 to 6 years in sex abuse cover-up

Monsignor William Lynn walks to the Criminal Justice Center before a scheduled verdict reading June 22 in Philadelphia. Lynn, who became the first U.S. church official branded a felon for covering up sex abuse claims against priests was sentenced July 24, 2012, to three to six years in prison.
Monsignor William Lynn walks to the Criminal Justice Center before a scheduled verdict reading June 22 in Philadelphia. Lynn, who became the first U.S. church official branded a felon for covering up sex abuse claims against priests was sentenced July 24, 2012, to three to six years in prison.

— A Roman Catholic monsignor who became the first U.S. church official branded a felon for covering up sex abuse claims against priests was sentenced Tuesday to three to six years in prison.

Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia, the former secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, handled priest assignments and child sexual assault complaints from 1992 to 2004.

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said, “You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong.”

A jury convicted him last month of felony child endangerment for his oversight of now-defrocked priest Edward Avery, who is serving a 2 1/2- to five-year sentence after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting an altar boy in church.

Lynn’s lawyers sought probation, arguing that few Pennsylvanians serve long prison terms for child endangerment and their client shouldn’t serve more time than abusers. Defense attorneys, who have vowed an appeal of the landmark conviction, said the seven-year maximum term advocated by the commonwealth “would merely be cruel and unusual.”

The 61-year-old Lynn was acquitted of conspiracy and a second endangerment count involving a co-defendant, the Rev. James Brennan. The jury deadlocked on a 1996 abuse charge against Brennan, and prosecutors said Monday that they would retry him.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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