Court upholds Allegan County man’s imprisonment, torture convictions

Mitchell Boatman, Holland Sentinel
·2 min read
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ALLEGAN COUNTY — The Michigan Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction and sentencing of an Allegan County man, but agreed he shouldn't be forced to report to the state’s sex offender registry for one of his convictions.

Tyrione Isaiah Henriques was convicted in July 2021 of unlawful imprisonment, two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, domestic violence, torture and assault with a dangerous weapon following a four-day jury trial.

More: Allegan man convicted of imprisonment, torture of girlfriend

He was sentenced by Judge Margaret Bakker in November 2021 to prison for 8-15 years for unlawful imprisonment, 10-15 years for each CSC-III conviction, 93 days for domestic violence, 23-60 years for torture and 365 days for assault with a dangerous weapon.

In addition, Henriques was required to register with the state in conjunction with the Sex Offenders Registration Act for the unlawful imprisonment charge and both counts of CSC-III.

Henriques appealed his conviction on grounds of ineffective counsel. In a secondary appeal, he also appealed the requirement to register as a sex offender for the unlawful imprisonment charge, which he called non-sexual in nature.

In a Nov. 9 opinion, the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld the conviction and sentencing, but agreed with Henriques that he shouldn't have to register in accordance with SORA for unlawful imprisonment. The opinion was written by Brock A. Swartzle, Colleen A. O’Brien and Kathleen A. Feeney.

“Accordingly, we affirm defendant’s convictions and sentences, but remand to the trial court for entry of an order removing defendant from the sex offender registry for his conviction of unlawful imprisonment,” it reads.

A hearing was held in September to address whether Henriques received ineffective counsel during his trial. At the hearing, the trial court found his counsel’s performance did not “fall below an objective standard of reasonableness because it was a reasonable trial strategy.” The appellate court affirmed that finding.

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Henriques raised several other issues in his initial appeal, which the COA addressed, once counsel was deemed effective. He argued the trial court erred by admitted certain testimony and said the sentencing for the torture charge wasn't proportional because the trial court didn't consider his age, 17, at the time of the offense.

COA judges disagreed with both of those claims.

— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Court upholds Allegan County man’s imprisonment, torture convictions