Two defendants plead guilty; third to deal

Two of four former Grosse Pointe North High School students accused of having sex with underage girls pleaded guilty to lesser charges yesterday. A third agreed to a similar deal. The fourth defendant had entered a plea earlier this month.

The outcome was fine with one of the girls, who attended the hearing.

"That's the one thing I wanted out of all of this. I wanted them to admit it," she said.

The four youths were charged with statutory rape after three girls, then 14, claimed they were given alcohol and had sex with the boys last winter at homes in Grosse Pointe Woods.

Michigan law defines statutory rape, also called third degree criminal sexual conduct, as sexual contact with a person aged 13 to 15. It does not require proof of force or coercion.

Wayne County assistant prosecutor Doug Baker dropped those charges as part of the plea agreement. In return, Daniel Raymond, of Grosse Pointe Woods and his cousin, James Raymond, of Harper Woods, pleaded guilty yesterday to one misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

In brief statements, both admitted to committing sex acts with a different girl earlier this year. The families of the two girls told the judge they accepted the deal.

Daniel Raymond apologized to his victim and her family.

The Raymonds agreed to serve 60-to-90-day jail terms, and will be sentenced Oct. 26 in Wayne County Circuit Court.

Robert Cooper, of Grosse Pointe Woods had been excused from court yesterday, but his attorney said he would accept the same deal on two counts next Monday.

Co-defendant Daniel Granger, pleaded guilty two weeks ago to the same charge and agreed to serve a 90-to-180-day jail term. Granger, the president of Grosse Pointe North's 1998 graduating class, will be sentenced Oct. 14.

It was a photo in the high school's yearbook of Granger urinating that began the case. During the school's investigation about how the photo came to be published, several girls came forward with allegations of statutory rape.

Stephen Rabaut, the attorney for Daniel Raymond, said a large part of the plea bargains had been making sure the defendants would not be required to register as sex offenders. If convicted as originally charged, the four could have faced up to 15 years in jail.

"It was a very try-able case, but we decided it was in (Daniel Raymond's) interest to take the pleas," Rabaut said.

The girl who spoke out at Yesterday's hearing said she had been angered by the boys' repeated denials and hoped their pleas would quiet supporters.

"What they did was really wrong, and they shouldn't have done it," she said.

10-01-98