CRIMINAL SEXUAL MISCONDUCT Bishop gets 28 days for groping breast

The church leader said he became drunk because of medication and alcohol.
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- An Eastern Orthodox bishop who likened jail to a death sentence and begged not to be incarcerated for groping a woman's breast at a casino was ordered to spend 28 days behind bars.
Bishop Demetri Khoury, 55, of Toledo, Ohio, told Circuit Judge Philip Rodgers Jr. that jail "would be like a death sentence to my career and thus to my very life," and pleaded for community service instead of incarceration during a sentencing hearing Friday.
Rodgers told Khoury he could perform community service in jail.
In a 30-minute statement, Khoury described his life and the day of the crime in great detail, including the poached eggs and tomato juice he had for breakfast. He also apologized to the victim.
"I do not make excuses, yet I do seek mercy and forgiveness," Khoury said. "I stand before you today as a broken man, one who has fallen from grace through self-inflicted wounds."
February hearing
Khoury, who oversees the Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in eight Midwestern states and Ontario, said at a hearing in February that he did not remember getting drunk at Turtle Creek Casino in July and grabbing the woman.
Khoury faced up to a year in jail for the offense, attempted fourth-degree criminal sexual misconduct.
The bishop has said his behavior was caused by intoxication from a mixture of medication and alcohol, and he attended an intensive alcohol rehabilitation program in Minnesota last year.
Since his arrest, he has been barred from preaching or performing liturgies. No one could be reached at Archdiocesan offices in Toledo on Saturday to discuss his status.
Rodgers said he hoped church leaders would consider factors other than Khoury's sentence when deciding his future with the church, and said he had received volumes of letters and petitions in support of the bishop.