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LOS ANGELES — Opening statements were scheduled to begin Wednesday in the trial of a man accused of beating an aging Jesuit priest who he says molested him and his younger brother more than 35 years ago.
William Lynch has said the priest abused him and his brother during a camping trip in Northern California's Santa Cruz Mountains. Now 44, Lynch will get his longtime wish to face the Rev. Jerold Lindner in court for the first time.
Lynch faces felony charges of assault and elder abuse after prosecutors say he beat Lindner in 2010 in front of startled witnesses at a retirement home for priests.
The Lynches, who were 7 and 4 at the time, were raped in the woods and forced to have oral sex with each other while Lindner watched, according to a civil lawsuit. Lindner has been accused of abuse by nearly a dozen people, including his own sister and nieces and nephews, but was never criminally charged because the allegations were too old.
Originally posted by tothetenthpower
I understand, you want your revenge, or your closure, but you don't get it by going to a retirement home and beating an old man whose not capable of defending himself.
Originally posted by LadySkadi
I guess the question is: why now? 34 years is a long time to wait, I wonder what prompted retribution/revenge after all this time...
Originally posted by The Old American
Originally posted by tothetenthpower
I understand, you want your revenge, or your closure, but you don't get it by going to a retirement home and beating an old man whose not capable of defending himself.
35 years ago he was 9 years old. I wonder if he could've defended himself?
Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent. --Ayn Rand
/TOA
I understand, you want your revenge, or your closure, but you don't get it by going to a retirement home and beating an old man whose not capable of defending himself.
Man who attacked priest in revenge is not guilty of felonies
A jury has found a San Francisco man not guilty of felony assault and felony elder abuse, despite his admission that he attacked the priest accused of molesting him nearly four decades ago.
The 10-man, two-woman panel also said Thursday that William Lynch was not guilty of misdemeanor elder abuse in the 2010 attack on Father Jerold Lindner. The 67-year-old Catholic priest has been linked to more than a dozen alleged victims — including his own nieces, nephew and sister — but never has been brought to trial because the statute of limitations in every case had run out.
The jury was split on a final charge against Lynch: misdemeanor assault. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge David Cena declared a mistrial on that count. Dist. Atty. Jeffrey Rosen said his office would decide in the coming days whether to retry Lynch.
But when Lindner returned to the stand, he refused to testify further on the grounds that he might incriminate himself. The judge then struck Lindner's testimony entirely and told the jury to ignore the priest's description of Lynch's "vicious" attack.
And that, Juror No. 12 said, was key for him in deciding the case.
"The victim in this case disappeared," said the retired accountant, who declined to give his name. "His testimony disappeared. To me, if you have no victim, do you have a crime?"