Landmark Catholic Church Official's Conviction Overturned On Appeal

Monsignor William Lynn, the first Catholic Church officially to be criminal convicted for the sexual abuse done to youth that he had responsibility for (but did not directly abuse), won his appeal, Zack Needles, my former colleague at The Legal Intelligencer, reports: "Lynn's lawyers had argued following his conviction that the trial judge had refused to address the defense argument that a pre-amended version of Pennsylvania's law criminalizing endangerment of the welfare of children did not apply in the case. President Judge John T. Bender, writing for the court, agreed, saying Lynn was not the direct supervisor of any of the alleged victims, but instead supervised the direct supervisors of the alleged victims. Therefore, he was not covered as a principal under the pre-amended EWOC statute, Bender said."