Mississippi’s top court says it won’t reconsider sex abuse conviction of former friar

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court will not consider an appeal from a former Franciscan friar who was convicted in 2022 in the 1990s sexual abuse of a student at a Catholic school. The court’s decision was announced Thursday. It means the conviction of Paul West remains in place. The Mississippi Court of Appeals ruled in August that it found “no reversible error” in his conviction. West’s attorneys then asked the Supreme Court to further examine the case. The justices did not explain their decision not to do so. The 63-year-old West is in the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.