BATON ROUGE — A state appeals court Thursday reinstated the conviction of a Baton Rouge police officer accused of grabbing a motorist's breasts, saying Judge Eboni Johnson Rose had no right to toss his conviction after initially finding him guilty.

Prosecutors gambled in seeking to overturn a conviction: the state Supreme Court this year had already ordered the acquittal of a woman Rose initially convicted. The Constitution bars double jeopardy — being prosecuted twice for the same crime.

In the case decided Thursday, involving BRPD officer Donald Steele, Rose initially convicted the officer of misdemeanor malfeasance, a crime that doesn't exist. At a hearing three weeks later, she ordered his acquittal but gave prosecutors leave to appeal her decision.

And since the prosecutors' appeal was filed, the state Supreme Court suspended Rose over concerns she wasn't applying the law correctly. 

The 1st Circuit Court of Appeal said that, up to a point, the judge would have the right to enter a post-verdict judgment of acquittal. Judges can weigh in if they believe that the state's evidence doesn't warrant a conviction.

But Rose went so far as to actually convict Steele, then acquit him even though there was no motion asking for it, the court said.

"The trial court found the defendant guilty ... then later, on a subsequent court date, decided to change the guilty verdict to not guilty," the three-judge panel said.

Prosecutors said that, at that stage of the proceedings, only an appellate court could grant a reversal. 

Steele's lawyer says he will appeal to the state Supreme Court.

"This was always a case that would go to a higher court," defense lawyer Franz Borghardt said in an interview.

District Attorney Hillar Moore III expressed gratitude.

"We are thankful that the appellate court reinstated Defendant Steele’s felony conviction for malfeasance in office," Moore said. "The appellate court’s ruling restores our victims faith in the legal system."

Steele was accused of groping a woman he had pulled over near LSU in 2021. Prosecutors say he ordered the woman to follow him to a warehouse off Chippewa Street.

In an earlier case with double-jeopardy implications, the state Supreme Court acquitted a former Broadmoor Elementary School teacher whose conviction on an aggravated assault charge was initially pronounced as an acquittal because of a disconnect between Rose and a jury.

One justice said Rose's violation of judicial procedure "shocks the conscience."

Bridgette Digerolamo, 42, was fired by the East Baton Rouge Parish School District after video showed her waving a weapon at a car traveling on a flooded street in her Shenandoah neighborhood in 2020. Prosecutors say Digerolamo also hit the car with a baseball bat.

Rose set Bridgette Digerolamo free after a felony assault trial, but minutes later Rose summoned the teacher to the courtroom and convicted her. Rose said she met with jurors after the trial and learned they wanted to convict the ex-teacher of a lesser charge.

Justices said the teacher couldn't be convicted after being acquitted.