an inch from murder - weblog

« Boys, too, suffer long-term consequences of childhood sexual abuse | Main | 4 jailed on suspicion of child sex abuse »

May 20, 2005

Imprisoned priest formally dismissed from clergy

ST. LOUIS - A Roman Catholic priest who has opted to stay imprisoned while authorities challenge a court's tossing out of his convictions of sexual misconduct involving boys has been formally dismissed from the clergy, the Archdiocese of St. Louis announced Thursday.

Former Archbishop Justin Rigali initiated the often-lengthy laicization proceedings against James Beine in October 2003 "for the welfare of all children and for the welfare of the Church," the archdiocese said in a statement.

Beine, 63, was suspended from the priesthood in 1977 over allegations of sexual abuse, and in the mid-1990s St. Louis' archdiocese paid $110,000 to settle two lawsuits that alleged Beine sexually abused boys more than three decades earlier.

"James Beine has credible allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against him dating back 30 years," the archdiocese said.

Earlier this month, Beine was ordered freed on appeal bond by the Missouri Supreme Court, 10 days after it threw out convictions on charges that he exposed himself to boys in a restroom in a St. Louis grade school, where he worked as a counselor.

Beine could have walked from prison as soon as the paperwork on his release was completed, but he has no home and worried that being cooped up under home confinement ordered by the Supreme Court could make him a target. So Beine chose to stay imprisoned, figuring that's safer than facing possible vigilantism, one of his attorneys has said.

St. Louis' archbishop and an advocacy group for victims of clergy abuse have argued that prison is the perfect place for Beine, whose St. Louis convictions in 2003 - and the resulting 12-year sentence - were thrown out by the Supreme Court on April 26.

In its 4-3 ruling, the court ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove that Beine, a counselor at St. Louis' Patrick Henry Elementary School during the 2000-2001 school year, committed wrongdoing when he allegedly exposed himself while urinating in a school bathroom.

In the ruling, special Judge Charles Blackmar called the statute unconstitutionally broad and said it "leaves adults in a state of uncertainty about how they may take care of their biological needs without danger of prosecution when a child is present in the same public restroom."

A U.S. appeals court already had thrown out Beine's federal conviction of possessing child pornography and the resulting prison sentence of nearly five years, ruling that investigators illegally seized key evidence.

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke last week warned parishes where Beine once served of the man's possible prison release, citing "grave concerns about possible acts of child sexual abuse which he may have committed."

St. Louis prosecutors - barred from retrying the thrown-out charges - have said they were deciding whether they could file additional charges related to three dozen complaints of sexual abuse their office fielded from Beine's years as a priest.

Barbara Dorris, a spokeswoman for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said of Beine's defrocking: "He's been a priest for at least 40 years and church officials knew he was a molester for at least 30, so this is a belated and begrudging move taken only after dozens have been abused unnecessarily and come forward courageously."

Posted by Nealus at May 20, 2005 11:02 AM

Comments

Post a comment