Watch CBS News

Jurors Speak Out About Verdict In Priest Sex Abuse Case

By Cherri Gregg and Diana Rocco

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The jury in the priest sex abuse case sat through months of evidence and deliberated for nearly two weeks before reaching their landmark mixed verdict.

"It was a number of times where it got a little, for lack of a better word, tense."

"There were tears in the room, there was anger, there was frustration," said one juror named Tahlia.

"We took our job seriously; we wanted to make sure we came up with a decision each of us felt we were comfortable with," said Regan.

Jury foreman Isa Logan of West Philadelphia says the 12 men and women on the jury took their jobs seriously, and accomplished what they were charged to do.

"We were able to do just what the judge told us to do, which was go by the law and not by your feelings and not by your background."

Logan says applying 11 weeks of evidence to the law at hand was no easy task for the lay jury. He says they based their child endangerment guilty verdict against Monsignor William Lynn on his specific actions, and not on the action of the church. He says the jury could not agree to a verdict on the charges against Father James Brennan.

"Some of us felt like we may have wanted to have heard from Brennan. That's what had some of us hung up."

The jury verdict against Lynn is the first time a church official has ever been held accountable for enabling abuse.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.