On February 28, 2019, as part of a series of recent victories in Michigan Criminal Sexual Conduct cases, Michigan CSC Defense Attorney Brian J. Prain of Prain Law, PLLC scored another verdict of NOT GUILTY from a Jury after a long trial on a case involving charges of First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct (CSC), Torture, Strangulation, Felonious Assault, Domestic Violence, and other charges. Had Brian's client been convicted, he would have spent the rest of his life in Prison. The chances of being granted Parole would be slim to none, considering the nature of these charges and the (albeit false) allegations.
Officially, there were nine charges, or "counts" brought against Brian's client by the State of Michigan: Torture (a Life offense); First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct (also a Life offense); First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct; First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct; Assault by Strangulation or Suffocation (a 10 year felony); Felonious Assault (a 4 year felony); Domestic Violence; Leaving the Scene of an Accident, and Drunk Driving (OWI).
RELATED: What is First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct? CSC 1 Definition.
According to Brian, "The local authorities and the Police really had it out for this guy. This woman who was accusing him of Torture, Criminal Sexual Conduct, and his now ex-wife, had a lot of friends in the Police Department, and their investigation was biased and flawed from the start. Right from the start, they twisted the truth and make my client out to be this terrible person that he wasn't. All anyone had to do was sit-down and talk to this man one time, and they'd see right away that he would never be capable of doing these things. That's why it's so scary to see what just an accusation alone can do to someone."
To get an idea of what Brian is talking about, you can take a look at the news article in the Oscoda Press that hit the papers on October 5, 2016 when this man was first charged, entitled "Oscoda Man Faces Life After Alleged Night of Torture and Rape."
You can click the link in this paragraph to read the March 12 article in the Oscoda Press after Brian's client was acquitted, entitled "Glennie Man Acquitted on Rape, Torture Charges."
Here are some of Brian's comments on this Torture and First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct trial and the Not Guilty verdict:
"First of all, I want to again express our appreciation for our jurors. Not just on behalf of myself, but my client and his family. It is a tremendous sacrifice that they made, both in terms of their time and courage. Selecting the jury took multiple days, and we went through 3 panels of hundreds of potential jurors. We truly felt that these final 14 jurors wanted to do justice. Criminal Sexual Conduct charges, especially First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct charges under MCL 750.520b, are the type that can cause extreme prejudice and bias against the accused - particularly in today’s day and age. Every accused citizen has the right to have his or her case decided by fair and impartial jury, and my client was afforded that right in this case. Thank God...
I also have to give immense appreciation to my friend and colleague Stephen Crane, who worked just as hard on this case as I did, knew every piece of evidence and witness statement, and helped me pull through the all-nighters and times when the going got tough. As a Michigan Criminal Sexual Conduct Attorney, my trials are just like the scenes in A Few Good Men - all night work sessions with a lot of books and papers and coffee (but not the Jack Daniels!). From the beginning, we knew that if we could get a fair jury and a fair opportunity to get all of the important facts to them, that they would see the justice we were seeking.
My client was facing one charge of Torture, MCL 750.85, 3 separate charges of Criminal Sexual Conduct in the First Degree for alleged multiple instances of forcible rape, and a bunch of other charges. CSC First Degree has "multiple variables," and he was accused of causing "Personal Injury" by doing the act by Force or Coercion (click here fore the definition of Force or Coercion in Michigan). His accuser claimed that he had also strangled her, ripped her hair out, and he was charged with those charges in addition to a host of other crimes. They spared no expense, and the government was out to send him to Prison for something. They threw everything at the wall that they thought they could, trying to get something to stick.
Even my client's first ex-wife - who we exposed to have a clear motive to gain an advantage in a child custody matter – testified against my client. Even though they had been through an embittered divorce, she'd never claimed that he physically or sexually assaulted her. But now all of a sudden, she comes out of the woodwork, ends up being in contact with the accuser in this case, and then ends up speaking to the Prosecutors Office. Now, after all these years, she was claiming that he supposedly did some of the same things to her. How convenient. However, we were able to demonstrate her lack of credibility.
The accuser's adult live-in son had a bedroom directly below the bedroom where the accuser claimed that some of these acts of Torture, Strangulation / Suffocation, and First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct supposedly occurred. He testified at trial, claiming to be a witness to certain portions of these alleged events. However, his lack of credibility and bias against my client were demonstrated through my cross-examination of him, and with other evidence.
Finally, considering the seriousness of the charges, especially Torture and the 3 counts of Criminal Sexual Conduct in the First Degree, one would assume that the police would do a very thorough and straightforward investigation. However, through our intense preparation and meticulous review of their investigation, we were able to expose highly significant flaws in their investigative process and the conclusions that they reached. It’s always scary for me to see how the government can unjustly devastate someone’s life, even here in the United States with all of our Constitutional protections.
In the end, we could easily have kept the case going for another week or more by calling additional witnesses and putting on additional evidence. But in a criminal case, even where the charges are as serious as Criminal Sexual Conduct, the accused never has any burden to prove anything. We elected not to put on a significant amount of witnesses and other evidence that we could have put on because we felt confident that our jury understood the most important thing – that the governments case simply couldn’t be trusted. All in al, I'm just relieved. That's all I ever feel at the end is relieved."