CASS COUNTY, Mich. — A Cass County man will appear before a judge Friday to learn his sentence after being convicted on 17 counts related to the repeated sexual assault of his two minor daughters.
Craig Lawrence was found guilty on Nov. 21, 2023 by a jury.
The two girls, now 21 and 14 years old, testified that their father began grooming them at an early age before eventually escalating to the numerous assaults over the course of a decade which the girls described as "unspeakable."
The abuse happened from 2010 to 2019 at the family home on Brownsville Street in Cassopolis. When Lawrence took the stand toward the end of the trial, he claimed that the girls were concocting the rape allegations in order to seek some kind of financial gain.
After just under three hours of deliberation, the jury returned their verdict.
Lawrence was found guilty on 10 counts of First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a minimum of 25 years, and seven counts of Second Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years.
Cass County Prosecutor Victor A. Fitz said both girls provided emotional and convincing recollections of the "highly disturbing sexual abuse meted upon them by their own father."
Lawrence was sentenced to 25 to 40 years in prison as well as a lifetime of electronic monitoring after being released.
The counts against Lawrence were individually sentenced, but will be served concurrently.
Lawrence chose not to make a statement to the court after he was sentenced.
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