Multiple additional victims allowed to testify in upcoming CSC trial
HILLSDALE — First Judicial Circuit Judge Sara Lisznyai has ruled in favor of the Hillsdale County Prosecutor’s Office who intend to introduce multiple other alleged victims of 50-year-old Judas C. Nickles during a jury trial scheduled for May 16 on criminal sexual conduct allegations.
Nickles’ attorney, Kimm Burger, filed a motion to stop the additional testimony which Chief Assistant Prosecutor Jamie Wisniewski says should help to corroborate the initial victim’s story; her identity is being withheld due to her age at the time and the nature of the alleged crimes.
Burger said the additional testimony is prejudicial against her client and argued it should not have been allowed due to the time-lapse since some of the crimes allegedly occurred.
Wisniewski turned to a court opinion in People v. Watkins which allows for this type of testimony for limited circumstances which includes crimes against children. While time lapse is one factor to consider, the court also can consider temporal proximity to show a pattern of criminal behavior.
The court found that the age of the victims who have come forward thus far — six altogether — shared similar stories of actions that took place between 1986 and 2019.
“In very limited circumstances, the law allows us to look at other acts committed by a person and introduce that information at trial,” Wisniewski said. “One of those times is when that person has committed an act of criminal sexual conduct against a minor. While the defendant is not charged in this case for those other acts committed, the court has agreed that the testimony of those victims will assist the jury in making a determination at trial.”
Nickles used religion as a driving factor in convincing his victims that God wanted him to have multiple wives.
The first victim to come forward, a family member of Nickles, first spoke about the religious factors during her preliminary examination hearing on Dec. 22.
More:Victim recalls sexual abuse during emotional testimony 15 years later
She testified then that when she asked Nickles why he was abusing her, he spewed religious beliefs and told her that kings had multiple wives.
“He ruined religion for me,” she said.
Nickles stands charged with four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct for multiple offenses against her 15 years ago.
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The prosecutor’s office is pursuing each count with a fourth offense habitual offender notice, which increases the maximum possible penalty on all counts to life in prison.
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.
He faces up to life in prison if convicted as charged.
— Contact Reporter Corey Murray at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: Multiple additional victims allowed to testify in upcoming CSC trial
