Jury convicts Coldwater man in second sexual assault kit initiative case against him

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 Thursday.

The jury found Brad Allen Risner, 29, guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC) after spending 10 minutes deliberating. The maximum possible penalty for first-degree CSC is life in prison.

The charge stemmed from a February 2010 assault and was brought as part of the state’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI). Risner 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, ten 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 CSC for assaults committed in 2006. That case is not yet set for trial.

"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.”

“First off, I want to thank the jury for the verdict and thank them for doing their civic duty to serve as jurors,” Jarzynka said “This was an intense and personal cold case, and they did a great job. This case was over 11 years old and it was extremely time consuming to investigate. SAKI made this case possible and I am very pleased we could seek justice for the survivor.”

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

Since 2013, the Michigan Legislature has appropriated funds to the Attorney General’s Office for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting cases that arise from previously untested sexual assault kits. In 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.