ST. LOUIS (MO)
The Kansas City Star
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS - The Missouri Supreme Court said Tuesday it will not rehear the case of a defrocked Roman Catholic priest, after it threw out convictions last month that he exposed himself to boys in a restroom at a St. Louis grade school where he worked as a counselor.
The court had ordered James Beine, 63, to be freed on appeal bond on May 6, but he voluntarily remained in jail while legal proceedings continued because he feared for his safety if he left, his lawyer has said.
A phone call to the Department of Corrections to determine Beine's status was not immediately returned.
Beine was suspended from the priesthood in 1977 over allegations of sexual abuse, and in the mid-1990s the St. Louis archdiocese paid $110,000 to settle two lawsuits that alleged Beine sexually abused boys more than three decades earlier. He was formally removed from the priesthood earlier this month.
Posted by kshaw at May 31, 2005 04:19 PM