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Coldwater man convicted in 2nd sexual assault kit initiative case against him

Kzoo Saki Sentencing
Posted at 11:30 AM, Sep 30, 2021
and last updated 2021-09-30 12:13:17-04

LANSING, Mich. — A Jackson County jury convicted a Coldwater man Wednesday in the second of three sexual assault cases against him.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Jackson County Prosecutor Jerry Jarzynka announced the conviction in a news release Thursday.

The jury found Brad Allen Risner, 29, guilty of first-degree sexual conduct after spending 10 minutes deliberating.

The maximum possible penalty for first-degree criminal sexual conduct is life in prison.

Risner’s charge stemmed from a February 2010 assault and was brought as part of the state’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.

He was first charged by the Kalamazoo County SAKI team and was sentenced earlier this month to at least 10 years in prison in that case.

During the course of the Kalamazoo County investigation, 10 other women were identified as being sexually and/or physically assaulted by Risner between 2005 and 2018.

Those investigations led to this case in Jackson County and a third case in Calhoun County, where he’s charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for assaults committed in 2006. That case is not yet set for trial.

READ MORE: New approach to sex assault investigations is getting results, changing lives of survivors

“This conviction is a testament to the determination our SAKI teams have maintained to secure justice for sexual assault survivors, regardless of the years that have passed since the assault,” Nessel said. “I appreciate the work done by the Jackson County SAKI team to reach this outcome.”

Risner will be sentenced in Jackson County at 9 a.m. Oct. 28 before visiting Circuit Court Judge Edward Grant.

Funds have been appropriated by the Michigan Legislature since 2013 to the attorney general’s office to investigate and prosecute cases that arise from previously untested sexual assault kits.

For fiscal year 2021, the Legislature again appropriated money to the attorney general’s office to provide funding to SAKI projects in Kalamazoo, Calhoun, Ingham, Jackson, Washtenaw and Wayne counties.

READ MORE: State SAKI program leads to charges, guilty plea in two sexual assault cases