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, according to The Advocate. 

Steele, 38, was found guilty of groping a Southern University student during a traffic stop. Judge Donald Johnson sentenced him to a year in prison with credit for time served in October. 

On Friday, the newspaper reported that Steele's legal team argued for bail and gave notice that they planned to appeal his conviction and sentence, invoking a mandate of state law requiring a post-conviction bail. Steele was consequently released on an $18,000 bond, the same amount as before he was found guilty.

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