Jonesville man facing life for criminal sexual conduct offenses

Corey Murray, Hillsdale Daily News
·2 min read
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Pinkowski is tentatively scheduled for a continued pretrial conference at 1 p.m. May 8 in the 1st Judicial Circuit Court.

HILLSDALE — A Jonesville man charged with seven counts of criminal sexual conduct in the second and first degrees is facing life in prison if convicted as charged.

Judas C. Nickles, 50, of Jonesville was arraigned Monday, Nov. 21, in the 2B District Court of Hillsdale on four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

All seven offenses allegedly occurred on June 12, 2017, and the victim is reported to be a family member between the ages of 13 and 16 years old.

The charges range from inappropriate touching of a teenaged female to detailed sexual assault.

In Michigan, second-degree criminal sexual conduct is punishable by 15 years imprisonment while first-degree criminal sexual conduct is punishable by up to life in prison.

However, the Hillsdale County Prosecutor’s Office notified the court they were pursuing each of the seven cases with a fourth-offense habitual offender enhancement, meaning all seven offenses are punishable by life in prison.

The prosecutor’s office indicated that Nickles has three prior felony offenses on his record including larceny of firearms, breaking and entering with intent to commit larceny and a prior conviction of attempted third-degree criminal sexual conduct from November 1995 in Jackson County.

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Nickels is scheduled to appear back in the 2B District Court at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 30 for a probable cause conference where his court-appointed attorney will meet with the prosecutor’s office to discuss discovery in the case before it proceeds to a preliminary examination hearing tentatively scheduled for the first week of December.

2B District Judge Megan Stiverson set Nickles’ bond at $1.1 million with 10-percent allowed and ordered that if he were able to post bond he should have no contact with the alleged victim and that he be placed on a GPS monitoring device.

Nickels was arrested Nov. 18 by the Michigan State Police on a warrant issued earlier this month.

— Corey Murray is the Public Safety Reporter for The Hillsdale Daily News, Sturgis Journal and The Daily Reporter. Contact him by email at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.

This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Jonesville man facing life for criminal sexual conduct offenses