A judge granted bail of $250,000 to Monsignor William Lynn, the Roman Catholic priest who was involved and later charged with sex abuse, after his sentenced was overturned by a Pennsylvania appeals court, according to MSN News.
Mosignor William Lynn will be released after his post bail of $250,000 on Monday, December 30. The Catholic clergy is still currently jailed at the Waymart state prison and has been serving a three- to six-year sentence. He is the first church official ever to get convicted over abuse claims.
Lynn was legally responsible for an abused boy's welfare in the late 1990s, according to a CBS News report.
Last week, a three-judge appellate panel threw Lynn's case out saying that he was tried under the child-endangerment law, which according to the panel, doesn't apply to the priest. The lawyers of Lynn asked the judges to release the Mosignor who is 62-years-old, but the prosecutors made an appeal.
Lynn did not attend the hearing who the prosecutors said was a flight risk. Thomas Bergstrom, Lynn's lawyer called the prosecutors' arguments "a fantasy."
"There's not a chance in the world he's going to flee the jurisdiction," Bergstrom told MSN News.
From 1992 to 2004, Lynn held the post secretary for clergy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
"He's been in prison 18 months for a crime he didn't commit and couldn't commit under the law," said Lynn's attorney, Thomas Bergstrom. "It's incredible what happened to this man."
Bergstrom argued long before that the prosecutors have wrongly applied the 2007 child endangerment law and was used retroactively to convict Lynn. During the previous trial, Sarmina was the original trial judge who sat on the bench and decided that Lynn should go in jail. Lynn was convicted that year and so far has served 18 months in prison.
During appeals, Sarmina once again thought about her decision and finally acknowledged that she misjudged her initial ruling.
"After all, I am fallible," she said.
Seth Williams, Philadelphia District Attorney, vowed to go after Lynn for another conviction. He has a news conference scheduled for later Monday.
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