People of Michigan v. Jeffrey Travis Toensfeldt

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 15, 2020
Docket347705
StatusUnpublished

This text of People of Michigan v. Jeffrey Travis Toensfeldt (People of Michigan v. Jeffrey Travis Toensfeldt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People of Michigan v. Jeffrey Travis Toensfeldt, (Mich. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

If this opinion indicates that it is “FOR PUBLICATION,” it is subject to revision until final publication in the Michigan Appeals Reports.

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, UNPUBLISHED October 15, 2020 Plaintiff-Appellee,

v No. 347705 Oscoda Circuit Court JEFFREY TRAVIS TOENSFELDT, LC No. 17-001523-FC

Defendant-Appellant.

Before: MURRAY, C.J., and CAVANAGH and CAMERON, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

A jury convicted defendant, Jeffrey Travis Toensfeldt, of four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC-I), MCL 750.520b(1)(a) and (2)(b); three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC-II), MCL 750.520c(1)(a) and (2)(b); gross indecency, MCL 750.338b; and indecent exposure, MCL 750.335a. The trial court, applying a fourth-offense habitual offender enhancement under MCL 769.12, sentenced defendant to 365 days in jail for indecent exposure and to eight concurrent terms of 47½ to 75 years in prison for the remaining convictions. Defendant appeals as of right, and we affirm.

Defendant’s convictions arose from the repeated sexual assault of his daughter, HM, when she was approximately three to seven years old. HM testified about penile-vaginal penetration, penile-anal penetration, and bruising on her thighs caused by defendant’s penis. MO, a family friend, provided graphic testimony of seeing HM with a swollen and bloody vagina and anus after returning from a visitation with defendant when HM was four years old. HM’s mother, MK, testified that she first learned of the abuse in 2011, that Child Protective Services (CPS) did not help her at that time,1 and that HM spoke about the abuse again in March of 2013 or 2014, immediately before MK moved to Florida. HM lived with defendant from March until June, while MK was in Florida. MK retrieved HM from defendant’s house in June of 2013 or 2014 and moved her to Florida, and MK reported the offenses after she and HM moved back to Michigan in 2016.

1 A CPS worker testified at trial and admitted to deficiencies in how the 2011 investigation was conducted. For example, HM was not physically examined.

-1- The evidence of defendant’s sexual abuse of HM was buttressed by evidence that defendant had (1) sexually penetrated, with his penis, another girl, TL, when she was six or seven years old; (2) sexually assaulted another of his daughters, IT, when she was less than two years old; and (3) displayed pornography prominently in his home in the presence of HM. Defendant testified at trial and claimed that the allegations against him had been fabricated because of a custody dispute with HM’s mother.

I. SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

Defendant first raises an issue regarding the sufficiency of the evidence presented at trial. “This Court reviews de novo a defendant’s challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his or her conviction.” People v Lane, 308 Mich App 38, 57; 862 NW2d 446 (2014). In reviewing a sufficiency-of-the-evidence argument, this Court “review[s] the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution to determine whether a rational trier of fact could find that the prosecution had proved the crime’s elements beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. This Court may take into account reasonable inferences from the evidence. People v Nowack, 462 Mich 392, 400; 614 NW2d 78 (2000).

Defendant does not contest on appeal that there was sufficient evidence for the jury to convict him of two counts of CSC-I (for one instance of penile-vaginal penetration and one instance of penile-anal penetration), of one count of CSC-II (for one instance of defendant’s bruising HM’s thighs with his penis), and for gross indecency and indecent exposure. The only issue he raises is whether two additional instances of CSC-I and two additional instances of CSC- II were adequately supported by the evidence. He contends that these four additional convictions must be vacated because of insufficient evidence.

However, defense counsel, in the course of making a motion for a partial directed verdict, affirmatively conceded at the conclusion of the prosecutor’s case that the evidence was sufficient for all four counts of CSC-I. As such, the present issue has been waived as applied to CSC-I. People v Carter, 462 Mich 206, 215-216; 612 NW2d 144 (2000). In essence, counsel “affirmatively approved” that the prosecutor had presented sufficient evidence of four counts of CSC-I. Id. at 216; see also, People v Kowalski, 489 Mich 488, 503; 803 NW2d 200 (2011) (counsel waived error in jury instructions that omitted an element of the offense). And unlike in People v Eisen, 296 Mich App 326, 329-330; 820 NW2d 229 (2012), defendant does not make a concurrent claim of ineffective assistance of counsel with regard to this issue.

We nevertheless note that the evidence presented by the prosecutor was, in fact, sufficient to support four convictions of CSC-I, as well as three convictions of CSC-II.

CSC-I as charged involved a person aged 17 or older engaging in sexual penetration with a person under the age of 13.2 MCL 750.520b(1)(a) and (2)(b). “Sexual penetration” means “sexual intercourse, cunnilingus, fellatio, anal intercourse, or any other intrusion, however slight,

2 It is not in dispute that defendant was over the age of 17 and that HM was under the age of 13 at the time of the alleged acts.

-2- of any part of a person’s body or of any object into the genital or anal openings of another person’s body, but emission of semen is not required.” MCL 750.520a(r).

CSC-II as charged involved a person aged 17 or older engaging in sexual contact with a person under the age of 13. MCL 750.520a(q) defines “sexual contact,” in relevant part, as including “the intentional touching of the victim’s or actor’s intimate parts or the intentional touching of the clothing covering the immediate area of the victim’s or actor’s intimate parts, if that intentional touching can reasonably be construed as being for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification, [or] done for a sexual purpose[.]”

Defendant argues that HM could not remember the specific details of more than two penetrations, but HM clearly testified about ongoing abuse that happened many times. When speaking of the penile-vaginal penetration, HM spoke of defendant penetrating her “front private,” and then mentioned “that” happening another time. This was evidence of two penile-vaginal penetrations. When speaking of the penile-anal penetration, HM said, “[H]e . . . would do the same movements, and it would be pretty much the same [as the penile-vaginal penetration], just lying on my belly instead.” As noted, HM testified that sexual abuse would occur “a couple of times every couple of weeks” at defendant’s house on Cherry Creek Road. Clearly, HM was speaking of multiple instances of penile-anal penetration. Given all the testimony, at least two instances of penile-vaginal and at least two instances of penile-anal penetration were proven.

As for CSC-II, HM testified that she remembered getting red marks from the bad things that defendant did to her, and said that she showed them to her mother. These marks were inflicted at the house on Cherry Creek Road. She said, “There would be marks on my thighs. There would be like rubbing marks. And they would be red usually.” According to HM, these marks were from “[defendant]’s private.” The prosecutor asked, “And did you always get those after he would do the bad things to you, or only sometimes?” She answered, “Only sometimes,” and said that the marks hurt. This testimony was evidence of at least two sexual touchings of HM thighs with defendant’s penis. See MCL 750.520a(q).3

II. TESTIMONY ABOUT DEFENDANT’S CREDIBILITY

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Kowalski
803 N.W.2d 200 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2011)
People v. Feezel
783 N.W.2d 67 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2010)
People v. Horn
755 N.W.2d 212 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2008)
People v. Meeboer
484 N.W.2d 621 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1992)
People v. Carines
597 N.W.2d 130 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1999)
People v. Sabin
620 N.W.2d 19 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2000)
People v. Carter
612 N.W.2d 144 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2000)
People v. Rodriquez
549 N.W.2d 359 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1996)
People v. Nowack
614 N.W.2d 78 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2000)
People v. Dobek
732 N.W.2d 546 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2007)
People v. Ginther
212 N.W.2d 922 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1973)
People v. Lane
862 N.W.2d 446 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2014)
People v. Ackley
870 N.W.2d 858 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2015)
People v. Lockridge
870 N.W.2d 502 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2015)
People v. Schrauben
886 N.W.2d 173 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2016)
People of Michigan v. Henry Anderson
912 N.W.2d 607 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2018)
People v. Ericksen
793 N.W.2d 120 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2010)
People v. Mahone
816 N.W.2d 436 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2011)
People v. Eisen
820 N.W.2d 229 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2012)
People v. Randolph
917 N.W.2d 249 (Michigan Supreme Court, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People of Michigan v. Jeffrey Travis Toensfeldt, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-of-michigan-v-jeffrey-travis-toensfeldt-michctapp-2020.