Former Dodge County LDS church leader appeals conviction, cites bad counsel and rights violations

Mar. 22—ST. PAUL — A former Dodge County Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leader sentenced to 30 years for raping a juvenile under his care filed an appeal last month, citing an ineffective counsel and that the state violated his constitutional rights.

Michael Adam Davis, 38, was the elders quorum president at the LDS church in Kasson where the victim and his mother attended. Davis has since been removed from any position in the congregation, according to Randal Thomas, president of the Rochester Minnesota Stake of LDS church.

Davis

sexually assaulted a then-13-year-old boy

under his care multiple times over Christmas break in December 2018 in Davis' home.

Davis, 38, was

found guilty in May 2022

of felony first-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one charge of indecent exposure in the presence of a minor with a previous conviction.

In an appeal filed on Feb. 26, 2023, Davis asked the State of Minnesota Court of Appeals to overturn his conviction and order a new trial, citing ineffective counsel and that prosecutors repeatedly violated his constitutional rights by not providing him with relevant discovery.

If the appeals court decides not to give him a new trial, he is asking the court for a new sentencing hearing due to the district court improperly assessing his criminal history.

Attorney's listed for the state, which include the Dodge County Attorney's Office and the Minnesota Attorney General, have not filed a response to Davis' appeal and no court date has been set.

Christa Groshek and Aaron Roy are listed as counsel for Davis.

A request for multiple transcripts from Davis' district court case, totalling 650 pages, have been ordered to be delivered to his defense counsel around May 8, 2023.

The district court ruled that Davis'

two prior Utah felony convictions qualify as two violent crimes under Minnesota statute

and that the court will allow the prosecution to file their sentencing request with a dangerous offender aggravating factor.

"Defendant has a long involvement in criminal activity. Defendant has engaged in criminal sexual acts practically his entire adulthood," District Court Judge Jodi Williamson wrote in her order at the time.

Davis pleaded guilty in August 2003 in a Utah courtroom to misdemeanor lewdness involving a child and was given a suspended sentence in October 2003 to 330 days in jail with 30 days of home confinement and 18 months of probation.

In that case, Davis exposed himself to an 11-year-old child in a public restroom.

In November 2003, an order was filed in Davis' Utah case that he violated his probation. In a January 2004 hearing, Davis admitted to violating a term of his probation.

In April 2006, Davis pleaded guilty to two felony third-degree counts for attempted forcible sexual abuse. Davis charges in that case state that he sexually assaulted an adult female with cerebral palsy in 2004 and 2005. He was sentenced to 180 days of home confinement and placed on probation for 36 months.

"As a lifetime registered sex offender, Defendant moved to a different state and committed more criminal sexual conduct offenses," Williamson wrote in her ruling.

His lawyer during his district court case, Thomas Braun, had argued to the court that Davis' conviction of lewdness involving a child was not a felony and could not be construed as a crime of violence. Because the lewdness conviction was not a crime of violence, Braun argued, prosecutors should not be able to push for an upward departure of the sentencing guidelines for Davis.

Williamson wrote in her order that while that conviction is not considered a crime of violence under Minnesota statute, the court could consider it as factor into whether Davis is a danger to public safety.

Braun also argued that Davis' felony convictions should count as one under Minnesota law because they were committed against the same victim.

"The conduct underlying the convictions is one of a singular behavioral incident that, in the State of Minnesota, would only give rise to a single conviction," reads part of a memorandum submitted by Braun.