Iron River Massage Therapist charged with CSC has court date postponed -...

[massage]

CRYSTAL FALLS, Mich. (WLUC) - The hearing to decide if there is still enough evidence to continue charging a former Iron River massage therapist with fourth degree criminal sexual conduct and unauthorized practice has been postponed.

On December 16, Iron County Court Judge Mary Barglind said it was unclear when or if 25-year-old Joseph Rankin committed unauthorized practice and whether the force or coercion required to proceed with a fourth degree CSC charge ever occurred. As a result, she had recommended both charges back to district court for further findings.

That order has not yet been filed, so Tuesday Joseph C. Schwedler was unable to make a ruling. The hearing was delayed and moved to January 9.

Rankin had been facing one misdemeanor count of obscenity, two charges of unauthorized practice, both felonies, and one charge of fourth degree and second degree criminal sexual conduct. Rankin's attorney Roy Polich filed a motion to quash, similar to a motion to dismiss. He argued there was insufficient evidence to bind the 25-year-old over to trial on the licensing charge, because three exceptions to it were met. Polich then claimed in the fourth degree CSC count, neither the prosecutor nor the court had findings to base the alleged force or coercion used while "engaging in sexual contact."


Judge Barglind agreed with Polich that the unauthorized practice offense with one of the alleged victims wasn't proven and granted the motion.

This article passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
Recommended article: The Guardian's Summary of Julian Assange's Interview Went Viral and Was Completely False.