Rape Convictions Upheld for Muskegon Church Leader

By John Hogan
WZZM
September 9, 2015

http://www.wzzm13.com/story/news/local/muskegon/2015/09/09/rape-convictions-upheld/71932032/

A former Muskegon church leader accused of having sex with children lost his bid for a new trial following a Court of Appeals decision upholding his 2014 conviction, which resulted in a prison term of up to 35 years.

Carlton Lindberg Johnson, 78, a longtime leader at Faith Congregational Church of God in Christ, was convicted on three counts of criminal sexual conduct involving relatives, two of whom were under the age of 13.

Investigators said he sexually abused multiple girls dating back to 1957.

Johnson in June, 2014 was sentenced to between 17 and 35 years in prison. He'll be 93 years old before he can be considered for release.

Johnson, who wore a clerical collar during his four-day trial, asked the Appeals Court to declare a mistrial, saying he was not afforded a fair and impartial jury.

The trial was also tainted because numerous prosecution witnesses were allowed to testify about his past acts of sexual misconduct going back several decades, Johnson argued.

Justices disagreed. The testimony "established defendant's consistent, frequent abuse of young children'' and demonstrated Johnson's likelihood of sexually assaulting other minors, justices wrote in a 7-page decision published Wednesday.

Johnson also claimed Muskegon County Assistant Prosecutor Rachael McEnhill was out-of-line when she referred to the victims as "brave'' and told jurors "they told you the truth and it is compelling and it is true.''

The three-judge panel ruled the statement did not constitute prosecutorial error because the statements were drawn from facts established at trial.

"Each victim testified that she lost her family and home as a result of her disclosures and the minor victims testified that they went to live at a youth home to which they did not wish to go,'' justices wrote. "The prosecution drew reasonable inferences from these facts.''

It took a Muskegon County jury less than an hour to find Johnson guilty of sexually assaulting the three young relatives. One of the victims testified the sexual assaults began when she was 10.

They told investigators the assaults took place over a several years; police got involved when one of the victims disclosed the abuse in 2012.

Johnson is being held at the Chippewa Correctional Facility in the eastern Upper Peninsula community of Kincheloe.