Jury Deliberations Resume In Clergy Sex Abuse Trial
By Tony Hanson
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Jury deliberations resumed Monday morning in the clergy sexual abuse case.
Monsignor William Lynn is charged with endangering children by allowing dangerous priests in ministry. A co-defendant, Father James Brennan, is charged with sexually assaulting a teen in 1996. Both have pleaded not guilty.
The jury, which got the case on Friday, deliberated a couple of hours and then submitted a list of requests. The judge will re-define charges and the panel is seeking documents, including the so-called shredding memo, a church archive memo documenting the apparent destruction of a list of admitted and suspected predator priests compiled by Monsignor William Lynn and allegedly ordered shredded by the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.
READ: Complete CBS Philly coverage of the clergy sexual abuse trial
The prosecution alleges copies of the list were destroyed and the original hidden as part of a cover-up by Lynn and other church officials.
The defense contends Lynn compiled the list to try to address the problem and there's no evidence he was part of a shredding conspiracy.