Australian cardinal won’t fight sentence if he loses appeal

SYDNEY – An Australian court spokesman says disgraced Catholic cardinal George Pell will not fight for a reduced jail sentence if he fails in his appeal of his conviction for molesting two choirboys in the 1990s.

The 77-year-old Pell — the most senior Catholic convicted of sex abuse — was sentenced in a Melbourne court in March to six years in prison.

FILE – In this Feb. 26, 2019, file photo, Cardinal George Pell arrives at the County Court in Melbourne, Australia. An Australian court spokesman says Pell will not fight for a reduced jail sentence if he fails in his appeal of his conviction for molesting two choirboys in the 1990s. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill, File)

He must serve at least three years and eight months of the term.

Pell will appeal his conviction next month. His lawyers have filed an application arguing it should be overturned on three grounds.

But Andre Awadalla, a spokesman for the Court of Appeal in Victoria state, told the Associated Press on Monday that the application does not include an appeal of the length of the sentence. /gg