Ten-Year-Old Sex Abuse Case Against Msgr. Lynn Headed For Retrial

Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

It's the case that won't die -- the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. William Lynn.

Why? Because a couple of corrupt Philadelphia D.A.s in a row, Rufus Seth Williams and Larry Krasner, love headlines.   

And when you're a corrupt D.A. seeking headlines, nothing plays better with the media than taking on the Roman Catholic Church over the issue of the sexual abuse of children. 

Even if the alleged abuse never really happened, as in the Commonwealth v. Lynn.

So last week in state Superior Court, the appeals court taking up the Lynn case for the fourth time in ten years ruled in favor of the defense, as they have in all four appeals. 

Specifically, the Superior Court upheld the trial court judge's decisions to limit the amount of Msgr. Lynn's prior voluminous prior court testimony that can be presented to the jury during a retrial. While the trial judge, Gwendolyn Bright, wanted to limit the testimony presented in court to the single case against Msgr. Lynn, the D.A.'s office was hellbent on putting the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on trial for covering up decades of sexual abuse of children by pedophile priests. 

It's a great idea, only a couple of decades too late. It would also help to have a credible victim of sex abuse to put on the witness stand, of which there are thousands. Instead of hanging your case, as former D.A. Williams did, on a lying, scheming altar boy dubbed Billy Doe who's a complete fraud.

Last week's ruling, however, clears the way for the case against Msgr. Lynn to be retried sometime later this year. It also sets up a showdown between a D.A.'s office that has shamelessly pressed forward with a corrupt prosecution, and Judge Bright, who for the record, isn't too happy with the D.A.'s office.

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Secretive Judge Postpones 'Billy Doe' Show Trial Until Next Year

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

According to an order issued by Judge Gwendolyn Bright, the lying, scheming former altar boy known as "Billy Doe" was supposed to show up this morning under subpoena in Courtroom 807 of the Criminal Justice Center.

But Billy Doe, AKA Danny Gallagher, didn't show, and once again, he got a pass. So did his official enablers, the prosecutors who work for corrupt District Attorney Larry Krasner.

You have to hand it to Gallagher, who has to be the luckiest dirtbag in the universe. He sure picked the right day not to honor a subpoena. A day like today, when all potential jurors were sent home and officials announced because of the coronavirus, the local courts are being shut down until at least April 1st.

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The Elephant In The Room Named Billy

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

The defense lawyer for Msgr. William J. Lynn today talked in exasperation to the judge about the "elephant in the room."

Five days away from picking a jury in the retrial of his client, attorney Thomas Bergstrom went off about what the prosecutors in District Attorney Larry Krasner's office, in their latest slimy maneuver, were trying to pull in Courtroom 807 of the Criminal Justice Center.

"The Commonwealth is trying to take the victim out of this case," Bergstrom told Judge Gwendolyn Bright. And why is that? Because "They [the prosecutors] don't believe he has any credibility," Bergstrom said.

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D.A. Won't 'Re-Traumatize' Billy Doe By Calling Him As A Witness

D.A. Krasner: perverter of justice

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

In a new low for the district attorney's office -- in a case that's full of them -- D.A. Larry Krasner today sent his top assistant out to  threaten a judge into allowing him to stage a show trial alleging sex abuse against the Catholic Church, without having to put an alleged victim of abuse on the witness stand.

The problem for Krasner is that the alleged victim in this case, Danny Gallagher, AKA "Billy Doe," has been repeatedly revealed to be a fraud. And if Gallagher does take the stand, defense lawyers for Msgr. William J. Lynn will call as their star witness, Joseph Walsh, the D.A.'s former lead detective in the case. Walsh will testify that after he caught Gallagher telling one lie after another in a pretrial prep session, the former altar boy flat-out admitted to the detective that he had made up his most outrageous allegations of abuse.

So in Common Pleas Court today, Krasner's top lieutenant, First Assistant District Attorney Robert Listenbee Jr., showed up to try and browbeat Judge Gwendolyn Bright into amending her order requiring the D.A.'s office to subpoena Gallagher for the March 16th scheduled retrial of Msgr. Lynn, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's former secretary for clergy.

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Danny Gallagher, Clear Your Calendar For March 16th

Oh Danny Boy! A Subpoena is Headed Your Way!

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Danny Gallagher, it's time to make your reservations for visiting beautiful Philadelphia during the week of March 16th.

That's the date when the District Attorney of Philadelphia plans to retry Msgr. William J. Lynn on one charge of endangering the welfare of a child. The alleged victim in this case is Gallagher, AKA "Billy Doe," the lying, scheming altar boy who made up a story about being repeatedly raped by two priests and a schoolteacher. And then the former altar boy, junkie and conman sold that story to a corrupt former Philly district attorney looking for headlines at the expense of the Catholic Church.

Rufus Seth Williams, Gallagher's official enabler, is sitting in a  federal prison these days, doing five years for political corruption. But his corrupt brainchild lives on in the form of the ongoing prosecution of Msgr. Lynn, now in it's 10th year, all for a crime that never really happened because Gallagher made it all up.

To continue their tawdry record of corruption and willful misconduct in this ongoing witch hunt, the D.A.'s office, under a new corrupt D.A., Larry Krasner, was attempting to retry Lynn without having to call Gallagher as a witness, who would likely face a withering cross-examination. But today, Judge Gwendolyn Bright ordered the D.A.'s office to subpoena Gallagher, and make him "available as a witness during the duration of the trial."

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D.A. Refuses To Disclose If 'Billy Doe' Will Show For Church Retrial

The star of the circus

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Can you stage a rerun without the original star of the show?

That's what the D.A.'s office under Progressive Larry Krasner was plainly trying to do this morning during a 90-minute hearing in Courtroom 807 of the Criminal Justice Center. The only question is whether Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn Bright will let them get away with it.

The case at question is Commonwealth v. Lynn, as in Msgr. William J. Lynn, the former secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He achieved notoriety in 2012 for becoming the only Catholic priest in the country to go to jail during the clergy sex abuse scandal, not for touching a child, but for failing to prevent a known abusive priest from endangering another child.

In the sequel, however, the D.A.'s office under Krasner is plainly angling to retry the case without its star witness, and it's not hard to figure out why. Danny Gallagher, AKA "Billy Doe," is the credibility-challenged former altar boy who improbably claimed he was repeatedly raped by two priests and a schoolteacher.

The only problem with Gallagher's story -- he made it all up. And since the former heroin dealer, junkie and thief has already stolen $5 million from the Catholic Church in a civil settlement, he has no incentive to leave his current home in sunny Florida to voluntarily return to Philadelphia in the middle of chilly March and risk a perjury rap.

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Judge Drops Blanket Of Secrecy Over Long-Running Msgr. Lynn Case

Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

The case was first tried seven years ago, and it's been litigated for a total of nine years.

There was a time when it was being monitored by the Vatican as well as covered by The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Rolling Stone.

But now that the case of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. William J. Lynn is headed for a retrial, Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright is determined to keep everything about it a big secret.

She's slapped a gag order on the lawyers in the case, so they can't talk to the media. She's sealed pretrial motions so the public has no idea what's going on.

Even though the media, except for this outlet, has long ago lost interest in what happens to Msgr. Lynn, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's former secretary for clergy, who went to jail for endangering the welfare of a child.

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Can Msgr. Lynn Case Be Retried Without A Victim?

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Judge Gwendolyn Bright today set a Jan. 13th date for the retrial of Msgr. William J. Lynn on a single charge of endangering the welfare of a child. Now the question hanging over the case is whether the D.A.'s star witness will be there.

Judge Bright also set an Oct. 28th date for a pre-trial hearing in the case, at which two big issues may be discussed. One is the topic of further prosecutorial misconduct in the case involving two sets of documents that the D.A.'s office withheld from defense lawyers during the original trial.

The second more complicated issue is whether the D.A.'s office will be able to retry the case against the monsignor without a victim. In doing so, the D.A.'s office would spare itself the burden of having to watch former altar boy Danny Gallagher try to explain on the witness stand all of his many lies and memory lapses while he was fraudulently claiming in three different courtrooms that he was supposedly raped by two priests and a schoolteacher.

The big question is whether Judge Bright will go along with a victim-less case.

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D.A. Krasner Loses Msgr. Lynn Appeal; Up Next A Retrial

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

The state Supreme Court last week denied an appeal by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, clearing the way for a retrial of the long-running child endangerment case against Msgr. William J. Lynn, the former secretary for clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

On Thursday, the state Supreme Court in a brief two-sentence order wrote that the D.A.'s "petition for allowance of appeal is DENIED."

The D.A.'s office had tried to overturn Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn Bright's pre-trial ruling that prosecutors could only introduce as evidence against Lynn three supplemental cases of sex abuse -- in addition to the case where he's accused of endangering the welfare of a child -- to show a pattern of cover-ups in the archdiocese. The D.A.'s office had wanted to present nine such cases as part of a strategy to put Lynn on trial as a scapegoat for the collective sins of the archdiocese against children.

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Graham Spanier Beats The Rap; Will Ruling Help Msgr. Lynn?

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Graham Spanier was scheduled to report to the Dauphin County Prison this morning at 9 a.m.

But last night, a federal judge threw out Spanier's 2017 conviction on one misdemeanor count of child endangerment. In a brief, two-page order, U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Mehalchick ruled in favor of the former Penn State University president's writ of habeas corpus, basically a legal request to "produce the body" of a convicted person before a judge, to decide if there's a lawful reason for that person to be detained.

In the case of Spanier, scheduled to go to prison today for two months, the judge decided that there wasn't a lawful reason to jail him, no matter what prosecutors said. So the judge wrote that Spanier's writ of habeas corpus "is GRANTED with respect to the first two grounds raised in the petition, namely that the application of the 2007 child endangerment statute to his 2001 conduct, and the jury instruction based on the 2007 statute, as applied to Spanier, are unconstitutional."

The simple concept at work in the federal magistrate's decision is something that Big Trial and some state appeal judges have been arguing for years, with mixed results. Namely that's it's unconstitutional for prosecutors to try a person ex post facto, or after the fact, under the standards of the state's original child endangerment law, if that law originally didn't apply to him.

9

Old Notes Show That 'Billy Doe' Only Wanted $$$, But D.A. Hid Evidence

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

He wasn't interested in sending anyone to jail; all he wanted was cash.

In February 2009, nearly a full year before he met with the Philadelphia District Attorney's office to press criminal charges, Danny Gallagher, AKA "Billy Doe," the "lying, scheming altar boy," told a social worker for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that "He has been talking to lawyers," and if "he gets money," he "does not want to press charges."

It was the kind of exculpatory evidence that would have made the district attorney's star witness look like he wasn't out for justice, he just wanted to get paid. The kind of exculpatory evidence that defense lawyers, had they known about it, would have used on cross-examination to question Gallagher's motives and impeach his credibility.

So what did the D.A.'s office do with that exculpatory evidence? Simple; they just buried it.

In yet another blatant example of calculated prosecutorial misconduct under former D.A. Seth Williams, those seven pages of notes from a couple of social workers were never turned over to defense lawyers. Nine years later, however, the notes have mysteriously reappeared, a copy of which was generously supplied to Big Trial. Expect those notes to be an issue in the retrial of Msgr. William J. Lynn, scheduled for some time next year.

35

As His Case Heads For Retrial, Msgr. Lynn Holds A Trump Card

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

The state Superior Court today cleared the way for a retrial of Msgr. William J. Lynn by rejecting an appeal to toss the case against him because of intentional prosecutorial misconduct and double jeopardy.

The monsignor, however, did score one legal victory. In a separate decision, the Superior Court ruled in Lynn's favor to limit the number of supplemental cases of sex abuse that can be introduced as evidence at a retrial, to show a pattern spanning decades of covering up sex abuse in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

The Superior Court's two opinions issued today mean that both sides can proceed with the sequel in their long-running grudge match, once again starring Detective Joe Walsh. Only this time around, Walsh, the D.A.'s former ace lead detective on the case, will be testifying on behalf of the defendant, about prosecutorial misconduct in the D.A.'s office.

21

'She Knew He Was Gonna Lie'

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

A lawyer for Msgr. William J. Lynn told a panel of state appeal court judges today that former Assistant District Attorney Mariana Sorensen knowingly put a witness on the stand that the lead detective in the case had repeatedly warned her was not truthful.

"She knew he was gonna lie," Thomas A. Bergstrom said about Sorensen and her star witness, Danny Gallagher, the lying, scheming altar boy.

Bergstrom accused the D.A.'s office of taking an "Alice in Wonderland" approach to the archdiocese sex abuse case. First, back in 2011, they indicted Msgr. Lynn, three priests, and a Catholic schoolteacher. Then, they asked Joe Walsh, their "hand-picked detective," to investigate the case, to see if Gallagher's allegations were true, Bergstrom told a panel of three state Superior Court judges. And what did the detective discover? That their "one and only witness is lying," Bergstrom said, referring again to Gallagher.

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A Prosecutor's 'Lost' Notes And The Trail Of Deception Behind It

Former Assistant District Attorney Mariana Sorensen [right]

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

As Desi Arnaz used to say on the old I Love Lucy show, "Luuucyyy, you got some 'splainin to do!"

Now reprising the role of Lucy: former Assistant District Attorney Mariana Sorensen.

Court records show that defense lawyers in the "Billy Doe" sex abuse case had repeatedly sought Sorensen's long-lost notes from her initial interview eight years ago with the lying, scheming altar boy whose real name is Danny Gallagher. In three different courtrooms, in front of three different judges, three different prosecutors from the D.A.'s office, including Sorensen, have repeatedly stated that those notes didn't exist. But then, after a gap of eight years, those notes mysteriously reappeared last month, and somebody was kind enough to drop a copy on BigTrial.net.

The notes, a glaring example of prosecutorial misconduct, are relevant again. That's because the D.A.'s office, under the reform leadership of Progressive Larry Krasner, is proceeding with a planned retrial of Msgr. William J. Lynn. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia's former secretary for clergy is accused of endangering the welfare of a child, Gallagher, by allegedly placing him in harm's way of a predator priest. But today we know that Gallagher previously admitted to Detective Joe Walsh, the lead detective on the case who filed a 12-page sworn affidavit, that Gallagher made up his stories of abuse about supposedly being raped by two priests and a Catholic schoolteacher.

But the legal show grinds on. Lawyers on both sides of the Msgr. Lynn case are scheduled to appear in state Superior Court on Tuesday morning, to argue appeal motions filed over the planned retrial of the monsignor. The Superior Court has twice already overturned the Lynn verdict; the monsignor's lawyers on Tuesday will be going for the trifecta. At the hearing, expect Lynn's lawyers to brandish Sorensen's long-lost notes, and tell the appeal judges about a continuing pattern of gross prosecutorial misconduct in the case originally championed by former D.A. Rufus Seth Williams, now wearing a jumpsuit in a federal prison in Oklahoma.

11

A Prosecutor's 'Lost' Notes And The Pack Of Lies She Wrote

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

On Jan. 28, 2010, Assistant District Attorney Mariana Sorensen and Detective Drew Snyder met behind closed doors at the D.A.'s office with Danny Gallagher, to hear for the first time his tearful tales of abuse.

Snyder had just bailed Gallagher out of Graterford Prison, where he was being held on a probation violation. Gallagher, AKA "Billy Doe," the lying, scheming altar boy, was a third-rate con man with a rap sheet that included a half-dozen arrests for retail theft and drugs, including one bust for possession with intent to distribute 56 bags of heroin. He was just a junkie hustler trying to figure out a way to stay out of jail, and maybe score some easy cash.

So Gallagher told his stories to the prosecutor and the detective. Eight years later, we know those stories were all lies. But eight years ago, the facts didn't matter because prosecutor Sorensen was an ideologue on a mission, out to get the Catholic Church at any cost. And Detective Snyder, who usually investigated insurance fraud, apparently was in over his head.

Behind closed doors, the third-rate conman peddled an improbable story about a helpless altar boy being passed around by three brazen rapists, who were all conspiring with each other. And a couple of chumps named Sorensen and Snyder bought one lie after another, without doing any investigating. When they got finished, Sorensen wrote eleven of Danny Gallagher's outright lies, and a dozen of her own, into the 2011 grand jury report that indicted three priests and a school teacher for rape, as well as a monsignor, for endangering the welfare of children.

As Sorensen noted in that grand jury report, "These are sordid, shocking acts." She could have been talking about the crimes she committed against truth.

34

Prosecutor's Missing Notes About "Billy Doe" Mysteriously Reappear

Former ADA Mariana "You're Killing My Case" Sorensen

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Eight years ago, former Assistant District Attorney Mariana Sorensen conducted the first interview with Danny Gallagher, AKA "Billy Doe," right after a detective bailed the former  altar boy out of jail, so he could assume the staring role in a witch hunt about to be staged against the Catholic Church.

But according to the D.A.'s office, Sorensen took no notes on Jan. 28, 2010, when she and Detective Drew Snyder interviewed Gallagher, along with his parents, at the D.A.'s office. According to what the D.A.'s office represented at two criminal trials, in front of at least three different judges, the only notes that existed from that initial interview with Gallagher were three pages of notes typed up by Detective Snyder.

Eight years later, seven pages of typed notes by Sorensen from that initial interview with Gallagher have mysteriously reappeared, a copy of which was sent to BigTrial. Defense lawyers in the case say those notes should have been turned over at two criminal trials, where three priests and a former schoolteacher were sent to jail for the alleged repeated rapes of Danny Gallagher. It's the latest episode of prosecutorial misconduct in a case replete with it, a case that's headed for a final chapter later this year when a new D.A., Progressive Larry Krasner, plans to retry Msgr. William J. Lynn, the lead defendant, on a charge of endangering the welfare of a child.

28

Msgr. Lynn's Lawyers: D.A. Knowingly Put Liar On Stand

New D.A. Larry Krasner Scopes Out His Options In The Lynn Case

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

Lawyers for Msgr. William J. Lynn have accused the district attorney's office of dishonesty and cowardice, for attempting to escape the consequences of knowingly putting a lying witness on the stand.

The lying witness, of course, is "Billy Doe," AKA Danny Gallagher, the lying, scheming altar boy.

In a testy five-page reply brief filed yesterday in state Superior Court, Lynn's lawyers took issue with the D.A.'s contention that there was no so-called Brady violation that resulted from the testimony last year in Common Pleas Court of retired Detective Joe Walsh, who came forward to expose Gallagher for the fraud he is.

Walsh testified that when he prepped Gallagher for trial in 2012, the detective quizzed the former altar boy about the numerous factual discrepancies in his many imaginative and vastly differing tales of abuse. According to Walsh, Gallagher responded by claiming he was high on drugs, hanging his head and saying nothing, or telling some new stories.

None of Gallagher's evasive activities were reported to Lynn's lawyers, as required by Brady v. Maryland, the landmark 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case that held that prosecutors must turn over any evidence that might be beneficial to a defendant.

7

New D.A. Krasner Going Forward With Retrial Of Msgr. Lynn

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

It didn't take long for our new D.A., Progressive Larry Krasner, to screw up big-time.

In a 24-page brief filed Tuesday in state Superior Court, Krasner, who's in his first month on the job, has decided to go forward with an ill-advised appeal in the case of Msgr. William J. Lynn. He's the former secretary for clergy in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia whose 2012 conviction on one count of endangering the welfare of a child has twice been overturned by the state Superior Court.

In the brief, which is filled with all sorts of official dishonesty in a case that is already a travesty of justice, the new D.A. pretends that a trial judge last year didn't find the D.A.'s office under Krasner's predecessor, Rufus Seth Williams, guilty of prosecutorial misconduct. When the judge clearly did, and stated so in open court.

The D.A. also attempts to pave over the main issue in the case, mainly that one of the prosecutors, former Assistant District Attorney Mariana Sorensen, had no qualms about putting a star witness on the stand, Danny Gallagher AKA "Billy Doe," the lying scheming altar boy, when she knew he was a liar. Even though she had been repeatedly informed by Detective Joseph Walsh, the lead detective in the case, that all the evidence Walsh had gathered during his investigation contradicted the fables Gallagher was telling, but they were politically correct fables that the prosecutors wanted to hear.

13

Chaos At The D.A.'s Office; Two Different Lists Of Fired Employees

Back In Action

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

On Friday, when the Philly D.A.'s office was closed due to frigid weather, assistant district attorneys were getting calls on their cell phones, telling them to come right down to the office.

Inside, people were lined up, waiting to be fired.

The first list of the newly fired people that went up had 28 names on it. The man on the right, Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington, was No. 25 on that list.

But by the end of the day, a new list of 31 names went up. And Blessington's name was nowhere to be found. Rumor had it that some last-minute lobbying had saved the job of the lead prosecutor in the case of Msgr. William J. Lynn.

Blessington, who had been targeted in the "Porngate" scandal -- unfairly, truth be told, because he supposedly never opened any of the pornographic emails sent to his cue -- had been spared in the purge by Krasner.

"District Attorney Lawrence S. Krasner requests the resignations of the following," the memo from the new chief of staff said, "with the understanding that they are not to return."

Three of the names on the list were circled, highlighting the ADAs with gun permits.

9

At D.A.'s Office Nobody Left To Prosecute Msgr. Lynn

Jeff Lindy: The Left-Wing D.A.'s New Right Hand Man

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

After new District Attorney Larry Krasner got through cleaning house yesterday by firing 30 assistant district attorneys, there's nobody left to prosecute Msgr. William J. Lynn.

One of the ADAs whacked by Krasner was Patrick Blessington, the lead prosecutor on the Lynn case. Blessington was also the guy who attacked retired Detective Joe Walsh as a "rogue" cop, saying he wasn't authorized to interview more than 30 witnesses in the Billy Doe case.

 Blessington had nonsensically claimed that Walsh had done the interviews on his own. That, of course, prompted laughs from Judge Ellen Ceisler. In the Philadelphia archdiocese sex abuse prosecutions, Walsh was the key witness who came forward to say that he believed Billy Doe was a liar, and that Doe, whose real name is Danny Gallagher, had admitted to Walsh that he just "made up stuff." The retired detective's testimony has already forced the D.A. to let Bernard Shero, a former Catholic schoolteacher convicted of raping Gallagher, out of jail nearly a dozen years early.

Walsh was going to be the defense's star witness if the D.A. proceeded with its announced plans to retry Msgr. Lynn on one count of endangering the welfare of children. But now it looks as though that retrial may never happen, because of some other moves Krasner made.

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