MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By Peter Shinkle
Of the Post-Dispatch
05/31/2005
James Beine, a former priest who beat raps for child pornography and sexual misconduct with a child, appeared one step closer to freedom Tuesday as the Missouri Supreme Court rejected prosecutors' bids to keep him behind bars.
The Supreme Court on April 26 overturned Beine's conviction on charges that he exposed his genitals to boys in the bathroom of a St. Louis public school. The court threw out the conviction and Beine's 12-year sentence after finding the evidence supporting the conviction was insufficient and the law under which he was convicted was unconstitutionally broad.
Prosecutors had requested a rehearing, but the court said Tuesday it had overruled that request. The court provided no reasons for its decision.
The court also ordered that Beine, 63, be turned over to a jail in St. Louis so the St. Louis Circuit Court could handle the next step in the case, standard procedure for releasing inmates whose convictions are overturned.
Posted by kshaw at June 1, 2005 05:47 AM