The Deacon's Bench
A Roman Catholic churchofficial is set to leave prison after 18 months because he won an appeal of his landmark conviction in the priest-abuse scandal.
A state prison spokeswoman, Terri Fazio, saysMonsignor William Lynn is scheduled to be released Thursday from the prison in Waymart, in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Lynn is set to be taken to Philadelphia, where he must remain on electronic monitoring while prosecutors appeal the Superior Court ruling.
UPDATE: Reports indicate he was released this afternoon, after the Archdiocese posted bail:
Monsignor William Lynn left the prison in Waymart in northeastern Pennsylvania, prison spokeswoman Terri Fazio said, and was being taking by the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office to a city jail, where he would be fitted with an electronic monitoring device.
After that, he’ll be released, probably to the custody of a family member, one of his lawyers said.
The attorney, Thomas Bergstrom, declined to say where in Philadelphia his client will live while prosecutors appeal the Superior Court ruling.
Philadelphia district attorney Seth Williams lashed out at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for posting at least part of Lynn’s bail (see related story).
The DA said that as a Catholic and as a prosecutor, he is disgusted by the church’s action.
“It wasn’t just some misguided philanthropist that gave $25,000 to William Lynn to get out of jail — it was the archdiocese itself,” Williams said.
In an e-mail, the archdiocese said it “assisted with the posting of bail” for Lynn.
Lynn has already served 18 months of a 3-6 year prison term on a conviction of child endangerment. But Pennsylvania Superior Court overturned that conviction, saying he was tried under a law that didn’t apply to him at the time.
As conditions of his bail, Lynn had to surrender his passport and will wear an ankle bracelet for electronic monitoring.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In