BishopAccountability.org
	Beine Nears Release from Prison By Peter Shinkle St. Louis Post-Dispatch [Missouri] May 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. "Of course, we're disappointed, but that's the Supreme Court's decision, and we respect that," said Assistant Circuit Attorney Ed Postawko, who prosecuted the case. Larry Fleming, attorney for Beine, said he expected his client "to be released in the next day or two, unless there are new charges filed against him." Fleming said Tuesday's ruling "doesn't surprise me," as the court's original opinion on the matter was well-reasoned. He said the court's opinion on the unconstitutionality of the law "relieved people of the apprehension that they could be charged with a criminal offense by using a public restroom in the presence of children under 14." Scott Holste, a spokesman for Attorney General Jay Nixon, whose office represented the state after Beine appealed his 2003 conviction, said the attorney general's office had helped revise the portion of the sexual misconduct statute that the high court found unconstitutional. A bill containing the revision is awaiting the governor's signature, he said. Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce has described Beine as a danger to the community, saying her office received 36 complaints of sexual abuse by Beine, most of which were too old to prosecute. Postawko confirmed Tuesday that no new charges have been filed. "We haven't been able to bring anything more at this time," he said. St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke has urged parishioners in three churches where Beine formerly served as a Catholic priest to come forward if they were victims or witnesses of crimes by Beine. Beine was a Catholic priest in the St. Louis area until he was removed from the active priesthood in 1977 after multiple complaints of sexual abuse. In subsequent years, he tried to found his own church and began using the name Mar James. In March 2002, he was living in Highland when he was arrested on a charge of sexual misconduct for allegedly exposing his genitals to boys in a bathroom at Patrick Henry Elementary School in St. Louis, where he worked as a counselor. While he was in jail, Beine asked an inmate to send a message asking a friend of Beine's to destroy a compact disc at his house. Authorities obtained the message, seized the disc and discovered it had child pornography on it. Beine later pleaded guilty in federal court to possessing child pornography, but only on the condition that he could appeal the issue of whether the authorities had seized the disc unconstitutionally. In June 2003, a jury convicted him of exposing his genitals to four boys at Patrick Henry. But soon, the legal battle shifted in Beine's favor. In December 2003, he won his appeal in the child pornography case and that conviction was overturned. Then, on April 26, the Missouri Supreme Court threw out the sexual misconduct conviction. Last month, the Catholic Church revealed that Beine had been formally removed from the priesthood in March. On Tuesday, David Clohessy, the national director of the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests, said his group would try to monitor Beine but expected that task to be difficult. "He's a shrewd predator who I strongly suspect will change his name and move out of the area," Clohessy said.