SAGINAW, MI — A Saginaw man accused of sexually assaulting two girls over a nine-year span has accepted a plea deal shortly before his trial was scheduled to begin.
Jason M. Cornell, 36, on Tuesday, Sept. 7, appeared before Saginaw County Circuit Judge Manvel Trice III and pleaded no contest to two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct causing personal injury. The charge involves penetration and is punishable by up to life in prison.
In exchange for his pleas, the prosecution agreed to dismiss two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim 13 or younger. That charge is also a life offense, but a conviction of it mandates a minimum 25-year prison sentence.
Cornell’s trial had previously been slated to start on Sept. 7, before it was recently rescheduled to begin Nov. 1.
In pleading no contest rather than guilty, Cornell did not orally admit to having committed any crime. Trice relied on police reports to enter convictions on the record.
Prosecutors previously said that a female in September 2019 alleged she was assaulted by Cornell. Police began investigating and discovered a second alleged female victim, prosecutors have said.
The abuse began in 2010 and continued through September 2019, prosecutors have alleged. The girls were preteens at the time of the first alleged abuse, prosecutors have said.
Prosecutors have not disclosed how Cornell had access to his two victims.
Cornell is to remain in custody at the Saginaw County Jail until Trice...
Read Full Story: https://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw-bay-city/2021/09/saginaw-man-pleads-to-sexually-abusing-2-minors-for-several-years.html
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