Photos taken of former Bishop Donald Pelotte in the emergency room of a Gallup hospital after he was found severely injured in his home on July 23, 2007, were broadcast Monday night on KRQE News 13 after a protracted legal fight over the photos' release.

An out-of-court settlement that paved the way for the photos' release was reported in last Saturday's Albuquerque Journal. 

KRQE's investigative reporter Larry Barker, who had sued to have the photos released, told viewers in a segment titled "The Battered Bishop" that despite church officials' and Pelotte's own insistence that he had fallen down a flight of stairs at his home, he appeared to be the victim of a savage beating, according to a story in the Gallup Independent.

Barker talked to Gallup police, who initially suspected Pelotte had been beaten but later closed the case, and to former New Mexico medical investigator Dr. Kris Sperry, who is now chief medical examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who said the photos showed injuries that were consistent with "a vicious beating," the Independent reported.

Sperry identified at least a dozen separate injuries to Pelotte's face and head as well as bruises and lacerations all over his body -- including a large bruise on Pelotte's shoulders that appeared to be the result of kicks, the paper said.

Sperry also suggested that, because of bruises on Pelotte's fists, the bishop may well have "landed a few punches from his own fists, but then was overpowered and systematically punched, and then I think kicked as well, repeatedly about the face and the head and sustained some very severe injuries."

Barker then showed up at the beachfront condominium in Florida where Pelotte has been living since his retirement as bishop in January and showed the former bishop the photos, the Independent said.

Pelotte then admitted for the first time publicly that the injuries shown in the photographs couldn't have been caused by a fall.

"When you see those pictures there's no way that I could have gotten that damage by falling down the stairs," Pelotte told Barker. "But I don't remember that."

Pelotte acknowledged that "Something happened to me for sure," and told Barker seeing the photos would "haunt" him, saying "I wish I hadn't seen them. It's frightening."

The former bishop also argued that the photos should be of no interest now, a year after the incident.

"I don't need this," Pelotte told Barker. "It's behind me now. Let it be. Let it be."

When Barker asked about someone "who committed a terrible crime" who was still on the loose, Pelotte said "You'll never find him," according to the Independent and Barker's report.

You can see the entire report on KRQE News 13's Web site, under "Larry Barker Reports: Evidence Points to Beating in Pelotte Case."