HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Philadelphia prosecutors urged the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to restore the conviction of a monsignor who failed to protect children from abusive priests.
Msgr. William J. Lynn was the first person convicted in the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church who was not actually involved in molesting children. He was given a three- to six-year sentence for child endangerment but his conviction was overturned on appeal.
The Rev. Charles Engelhardt, the priest Lynn allegedly reassigned, died Saturday in a Pennsylvania prison of a heart blockage, the Rev. Kevin Nadolski said. Engelhardt continued to maintain he was innocent of molesting a 10-year-old boy at a parish in northeast Philadelphia in the 1990s, and the state Supreme Court heard arguments in his case last month.
"I continue to believe that he's completely innocent," Nadolski told CNN.
In oral arguments before the high court on Tuesday, lawyers debated the Pennsylvania law that was in force when Lynn was secretary for clergy in the Philadelphia archdiocese. Defense lawyer Thomas Bergstrom argued that only those involved in supervising children could be convicted of child endangerment at the time, while prosecutors argued that is a misreading of the law.
The legislature changed the law in 2009 to allow endangerment charges to be applied more broadly.
Lynn was released on bail in January and is currently under electronic monitoring.
