By By NORMA LERNER / Edwardsburg Argus
CASSOPOLIS -- It took a jury of 10 women and two men almost seven hours to find 53-year-old Gary Marchbanks of Cassopolis guilty of three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct Friday in Cass County Circuit Court.
There are additional charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and third-degree criminal sexual conduct against another girl who lived in Marchbanks' household in the 67300 block of Cassopolis Road in Calvin Township. A trial on those charges is set for Oct. 7.
It was his second trial since joining Cass County in April.
Fitz also thanked the jury for its hard work in the case, saying the trial lasted longer than expected.
The jury on Friday was in its eighth day after listening to seven days of testimony by expert witnesses, family members and police officers in a retrial that was expected to last three to four days.
The scene unfolds as Lisa LaGrande, ex-wife of Marchbanks, married him in 2000, but found that they didn't get along. They would often fight.
She testified that she found nude computer pictures of the girl when Marchbanks wasn't home. This was about the middle of May, 2002.
Marchbanks allegedly was going to use the nude photos to sell on the Internet.
LaGrande took them to a friend's house to boot up on her computer. She tells LaGrande to go to police.
Marchbanks was called to the stand by his attorney, Thomas Hirsch of Kalamazoo, on Wednesday and repeatedly denied the alleged pictures were taken by him or that he molested the victim.
Hirsch claimed a scheme was concocted by LaGrande so that the girl and her sibling could leave the house and go live with their mother.
He said this would allow for LaGrande to divorce Marchbanks, allowing her access to his assets and money after their divorce.
This she did by taking more than $15,000 from a personal account and cleaning out their home, including a built-in dishwasher, Hirsch argued.
Fitz said the girl should have been enjoying life as a 10-year-old but instead was introduced to a different topic in her young life, a sexual aid, a man's penis and his fingers allegedly used to molest her. She was told if she cooperated and took off her clothes, he would buy her things she wanted plus help her with her homework. She was not to tell or she would go to a foster home.
There were more than 200 child pornographic photos found on either computer discs at the home or on the computer's hard drive after Marchbanks' May 28 arrest. However, after the defense rested his case on Thursday, Fitz recalled a witness in his rebuttal to produce the photographs. Hirsch argued that it was improper and asked the court not to rebutt to which Judge Michael E. Dodge agreed and ruled them as unfair since they were not of the victim. Dodge said of the pictures, "They are obscene, gross, prejudice and smut on the computer … horrible. It would convict (the offender) because of the photos. They would conclude anyone having those photos on a computer would be a horrible individual."
The retrial was held following a mistrial in April when a jury failed to reach a unanimous decision on Marchbanks guilt or innocence on the same charges.
Marchbanks also faces drug and weapon charges which are now at the state level, Fitz said. A third file involving a weapon charge is still pending at the federal court.
Marchbanks faces life in prison for the first-degree charges and up to 15 years for the second-degree charges when he is to appear for sentencing at 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 31.