Monsignor William Lynn won't be at the hearing in Philadelphia. He remains in custody at a state prison in northeast Pennsylvania.
The 62-year-old Lynn is the first church official ever prosecuted over his handling of priest sex-abuse complaints. Lynn has served 18 months of the 3 to 6-year sentence.
But the Superior Court threw out his conviction Thursday, saying the law did not apply in the late 1990s to church supervisors like Lynn.
Lynn's bail petition now goes to Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina, who presided at the trial last year and sentenced him.
District Attorney Seth Williams hopes to restore Lynn's conviction through his own appeal of Thursday's ruling.
