Michigan Court of Appeals upholds convictions in Lenawee County child sex abuse case
ADRIAN — A man’s convictions in a child sexual abuse case have been upheld by the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Carlos Torres, 40, was convicted in May 2022 by a Lenawee County Circuit Court jury of one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and three counts of second-degree CSC. Circuit Judge Anna Marie Anzalone sentenced him in September 2022 as a fourth-offense habitual offender to 25 to 50 years’ imprisonment for the first-degree CSC conviction and 10 to 15 years’ imprisonment for each second-degree CSC conviction.
Torres has previous firearms and assault convictions.
This case involved sexual assaults that started when the victim was 11 or 12 years old, the court’s opinion says. Torres engaged in sexual contact with the girl while she was sleeping when he and the victim were alone in the home together on at least 10 occasions. The girl reported the abuse to her mother after her mother and Torres ended their relationship.
After Torres was charged with abusing the girl, his stepson also made allegations of sexual assault against Torres, and charges also were filed in that case. The jury acquitted Torres of those charges as well as additional charges related to alleged sexual abuse of the girl.
Torres appealed the convictions, claiming the jury’s verdict was against the great weight of the evidence and that it would be a miscarriage of justice to allow the verdict to stand. His argument is based on attacking the victim’s credibility. He also argued the victim “lied about the assaults to exact revenge on defendant for taking away her quinceañera,” the court’s opinion said.
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“While defendant is able to identify inconsistencies in the victim’s preliminary examination testimony and trial testimony, her trial testimony did not directly contradict her testimony at the preliminary examination but rather provided additional details,” wrote Judges Colleen A. O’Brien, Kirsten Frank Kelly and Michael J. Kelly in their opinion issued Nov. 21.
“While inconsistencies between the preliminary examination and trial testimony may have impeached her testimony to some extent, these inconsistencies were relatively minor and did not go to the essential elements of the crimes,” the opinion states.
Regarding the argument that the allegations were lies to get revenge on Torres for taking away her quinceañera, the court said the jury was entitled to reject that theory.
Torres also argued that the jury acquitting him on two other first-degree CSC counts showed the jurors must have had doubts about the victim’s credibility. The court wrote that the jury concluding the prosecution did not prove those charges beyond a reasonable doubt “does not necessarily shed light into the jury’s perception of the victim’s credibility.” Testimony during the trial was “equally reasonable to explain the jury’s verdicts.”
Torres is incarcerated at Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility near Ionia, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections. His earliest release date is Sept. 9, 2044.
— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Michigan Court of Appeals upholds child sex abuse convictions
