Archdiocese of St. Louis posts half-million dollar bond for priest

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis has put up a half-million dollars
to keep out of jail the priest convicted last week of sodomizing a teenage boy.

Using ten checks with values ranging from $10,000 to $350,000, church officials
posted bond for the Rev. Thomas Graham on the same afternoon that jurors
recommended that Graham spend 20 years in prison for performing oral sex on the
boy in the late 1970s, court records show.

….Bernard Huger, an attorney for the archdiocese, said Tuesday that he expected
the church would continue to pay for Graham’s defense until the conviction is
reversed or Graham’s appeals are exhausted.

"He’s still a priest in the archdiocese. And he does have appeal rights," Huger
said.

Graham’s criminal lawyer said last week that he would appeal, and Graham has
consistently denied the allegations.

Huger said that the archdiocese pays to defend priests for a number of reasons.
Priests are not paid much, and most don’t have many assets, he said. They are
also considered to be like family members.

"Whether they’re guilty or innocent in the end – that’s not the immediate
question," Huger said.