Saginaw man to serve 18 years for sexually assaulting mentally handicapped woman

Derrick Conway

SAGINAW, MI — A 51-year-old Saginaw man will spend at least 17 years more years behind bars for sexually assaulting a mentally handicapped woman last year.

Derrick Conway appeared before Saginaw County Chief Circuit Judge Fred L. Borchard on Monday, July 7, and pleaded guilty to three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors will drop three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The lesser charge to which Conway pleaded carries a 15-year maximum sentence, but his fourth-or-subsequent-time habitual offender status increases that to life. After a Cobbs hearing, Borchard indicated he would hand down an 18-year minimum sentence.

Conway likely will receive credit for the nearly 11 months he will have served in jail by the time he is sentenced.

Conway on Monday said he engaged in multiple forms of sexual relations with the woman, who was in her early 20s, and that he knew she was "mentally incapable of giving consent." The woman became pregnant as a result, and a DNA test showed Conway was the father, he said Monday.

When a sexual assault victim becomes pregnant as a result of the assault, prosecutors can charge the suspect with first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Prosecutors initially charged Conway with five counts of the first-degree charge, but after Conway's December preliminary hearing, they dropped two of those charges.

While prosecutors' plea offer to Conway always has contained him pleading to the third-degree charges, the sentence length has varied. Borchard first would not commit to a sentence length, but conducted the Cobbs hearing on June 30.

Conway's attorney Philip A. Sturtz asked for a week to discuss the offer with Conway, and Conway accepted it Monday. The sentence length is about in the middle of Conway's state sentencing guidelines, scored at nine years and nine months to 26 years and eight months.

Borchard is scheduled to sentence Conway on Aug. 13.

— Andy Hoag covers courts for MLive/The Saginaw News. Email him at ahoag@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter @awhoag

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