ST. LOUIS (MO)
Post-Dispatch
By PETER SHINKLE
Post-Dispatch
12/23/2003
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A federal appeals court in St. Louis announced Tuesday it had overturned the conviction of former Catholic priest and St. Louis public school counselor James Beine on charges of possessing child pornography.
The action does not affect Beine’s conviction in state court of exposing himself to students at Patrick Henry School, where he worked.
But if federal authorities do not retry and convict Beine, Tuesday’s ruling might spare him considerable prison time. That’s because the nearly five years in prison he got for that case was expected to run consecutively with his 12-year state term, said St. Louis Assistant Circuit Attorney Ed Postawko.
The appellate judges ruled that St. Louis police detectives violated Beine’s rights by failing to obtain a search warrant before examining CDs he had left with a friend. Officials said one contained child pornography.
