BATON ROUGE — A judge granted bond to former Baton Rouge Police officer Donald Steele, Jr., who was recently sentenced to six months in prison for malfeasance in office.

Steele, 38, was accused of groping a Southern University student during a traffic stop. He was indicted for kidnapping and malfeasance charges, but was only convicted of malfeasance. Judge Donald Johnson sentenced him to a year in prison with credit for time served in October. 

On Friday, Steele's legal team argued for bail and gave notice that they planned to appeal his conviction and sentence, invoking a state law mandate requiring post-conviction bail.

Steele was consequently released on an $18,000 bond, the same amount as before he was found guilty.

The Investigative Unit covered Steele at one point being cleared of those malfeasance charges after Judge Eboni Rose Johnson found him guilty of misdemeanor malfeasance, a crime that does not exist. The state argued previously that the current judge and her uncle, Donald Johnson, be recused due to his familial connection.

Johnson reportedly ordered Steele's team to file the motion for reconsideration of his sentence within 30 days.