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.

The case really is a joke at this point. Our corrupt district attorney's office, faced with a star witness that even they know is a fraud, is attempting to retry Msgr. William J. Lynn on one count of endangering the welfare of a child without putting the alleged victim  on the witness stand.

In response to howls from the defense table, the judge issued her order requiring Gallagher to be in the courtroom under subpoena during the trial. But Patrick Blessington, the lead prosecutor in the case, has repeatedly told the judge that he doesn't intend to call Gallagher as a witness.

Blessington's excuse is that he has claimed that D.A. Krasner has an enlightened new policy where he doesn't want to re-traumatize victims by requiring them to testify in court.

So what does it matter if Gallagher's in the courtroom if he's not going to speak? They might as well bring along a stuffed horse as an exhibit. Or, to ensure a more perfect match, only the rear end of the horse would be necessary.

It's the definition of a show trial. Especially since Lynn, who was convicted originally in 2012, and then had his sentence overturned twice on appeal, has already served his time -- 33 months out of his original 36 month sentence, plus 18 months of house arrest.

To make more matters more absurd, the judge has imposed a gag order on all the lawyers in the case, so they don't talk to the media. It's a layer of secrecy totally unnecessary in a notorious 10-year-old case that got worldwide publicity the first time it was tried, and all the relevant facts are known.

The judge has also required lawyers on both sides to file all their briefs and motions under seal, so the media and public can't see them.

In accordance with her tradition of keeping everything a secret, the judge this morning summoned lawyers on both sides to meet her in the backroom, so reporters waiting outside would not be able to witness what transpired.

Was there a confrontation over Gallagher not showing up in the courtroom, as required by the judge's order? We don't know because whatever happened went down in secret in the back room. And after it was over, none of the lawyers could talk about it.

All we know is that Gallagher was required by the judge's order to show up under subpoena, and he didn't show. But whatever went down because of it is unknown.

To top off this travesty, the prosecutors are doing everything they can think of to drag out what should be a two-day trial and make it into a boring spectacle that the lead prosecutor claims will take three weeks to put on.

What the prosecution is trying to do, according to Mark Kasten, a defense lawyer for Msgr. Lynn, is a lot of "shoveling paper," by having detective James Dougherty read one file after another to the jury.

The D.A. is afraid to put Gallagher on the stand. So instead, as Kasten told the judge, the "Commonwealth is trying to make its case with mountains of paper."

Today's capper happened when the judge was trying to fit a bloated three-week trial into her tight schedule.

It tuns out the next available court date for a trial that last three weeks -- drum roll, please -- is not until Jan. 4, 2021.

How's that for dragging out a show trial?

It's really beyond a travesty at this point. This is a prosecution that, as I have documented on this blog, is sponsored by Let 'Em Loose Larry Krasner. A guy who has to date let the following criminals  get off scot-free:

-- A two time killer who was caught on a routine traffic stop with guns and drugs.

-- A stoned pharmacist caught with $30,000 worth of Xanax.

-- A career burglar, who watched as the D.A. made 27 new cases of burglary and 184 new charges filed against him disappear.

-- The son of Krasner's former corrupt supervisor, Movita Johnson-Harrell, who went to see the mother of his son at her workplace, lured her outside under false pretenses, shoved her around, and then punched her in the face, drawing blood.

-- Hassan Elliott, an armed drug dealer who got caught with guns again, and was the subject of a search warrant this past Friday in Frankford that resulted in a shoot out, which resulted in the murder of Cpl. James O'Connor IV.

All of these criminals were either given a pass or let out of jail by Krasner. But he won't give a pass to a Catholic priest who was the victim of false testimony from a fraudulent witness -- Danny Gallagher --- and has already served his time.

To finish off this mess, Judge Bright sent a deadline of May 28 for the lawyers on both sides of the case to file more motions under seal, motions that the press and public will never see.

So the press and public have no idea of what's going on.

As Msgr. Lynn and his frustrated legal team left the court, it would have been nice if reporters could have asked them what happened in the back room. And get their reaction to the latest travesty.

But hey, the judge has a gag order up so nobody can talk.

As the 69-year-old monsignor was walking out of court, he was overheard telling friends that he wondered if he would still be alive when the retrial finally rolls around.

If it ever actually happens.

See you next year.