← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Stigmata
Thread ID: 18065 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2005-05-02
2005-05-02 07:44 | User Profile
[size=3][color=#000033]Court decision could free sexual offenders[/color][/size] [size=1]By [/size][email="rpatrick@post-dispatch.com"][size=1][color=#000000]Robert Patrick[/color][/size][/email] [size=1]Of the Post-Dispatch[/size] [size=1]Friday, Apr. 29 2005[/size]
Dozens of people convicted of exposing their genitals to children could be freed from prison or have their sentences reduced, based on a Missouri Supreme Court decision this week clearing a former St. Louis elementary school counselor and onetime Roman Catholic priest of such charges.
The court, in a 4-3 decision Tuesday, said there was not enough evidence to convict James Beine of sexual misconduct involving a child by indecent exposure. The court also said that the Missouri law was "patently unconstitutional" because it is over-broad and could criminalize simply using a public restroom.
Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon said Friday that he would ask the state Supreme Court to reconsider. Nixon has 15 days from the ruling to seek a rehearing.
If that fails, those imprisoned on a sexual misconduct charge could ask the courts to be released, Nixon said.
Stephen Easton, an associate professor at the University of Missouri Law School, said the question then would be whether courts applied the ruling retroactively. Judges could decide that it applies only to open cases, he said. They also could say the decision clears everyone convicted of the crime - or something in between.
Statewide data on the number of people convicted and sentenced to prison under the statute were not available this week. But interviews with prosecutors from around Missouri showed that dozens of people have been convicted of the same crime.
St. Charles County Prosecutor Jack Banas said there were 12 from his jurisdiction since 2002. He said that if the ruling stood, "I would assume some of those people are going to start filing writs (legal documents)."
Bronwyn E. Werner, trial team leader for sex crimes and child abuse for the Jackson County prosecutor's office, in Kansas City, said records there show 41 closed sexual misconduct cases and eight open ones.
A spokeswoman for St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch said their computer system was too old to extract the information.
Jeannette Graviss, chief warrant officer for the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's office, said a person's outcome might depend upon whether he was convicted of other charges at the same time. She said being charged only with sexual misconduct was "not particularly common."
Nixon said bills including language revising the statute in accordance with the Supreme Court decision were already moving through the Missouri House and Senate.
St. Louis prosecutors and federal prosecutors in Illinois have said they are checking whether they can file charges on other accusations against Beine, formerly of Highland. He had been convicted of exposing himself to three students while working as a counselor at a St. Louis public elementary school.
In 2003, a federal appeals court overturned an unrelated child pornography conviction against Beine, saying evidence had been improperly obtained without a search warrant.
Beine, who also used the name Mar James, was removed from the ministry in 1977 after allegations of sexual abuse. [url="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/emaf.nsf/Popup?ReadForm&db=stltoday%5Cnews%5Cstories.nsf&docid=183E8A4C9BA9AA2D86256FF300167DC8"]http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/emaf.nsf/Popup?ReadForm&db=stltoday%5Cnews%5Cstories.nsf&docid=183E8A4C9BA9AA2D86256FF300167DC8[/url]