A Kalamazoo County jury returned guilty verdicts on four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct against former Fabius Township Supervisor Kenneth Dwayne Linn, 58, of Three Rivers.
Court documents say the assaults occurred in 2010, and the 58-year-old will be sentenced on April 16, with each charge being punishable by up to life in prison.
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Officials say after a golf outing at a St. Joseph County course in August 2010, Linn volunteered to look after and take home an extremely intoxicated golf course employee who had been drinking alcohol alongside and with the encouragement of the 58-year-old and other golfers.
Linn engaged in numerous sexually penetrative acts with the young woman victim when she was physically helpless due to extreme intoxication and unable to give consent.
The woman said she has no memory of the sex acts but suffered physical injury, and DNA evidence was collected from Linn, which was identified later through an examination performed later that day after the assault, which was not submitted for lab testing until years later.
The DNA kit was submitted to an out-of-state private DNA lab in 2016 as part of the state-wide sexual assault kit testing initiative. At that time, a suspect DNA profile was developed.
“Our SAKI units in Kalamazoo and across the State perform incredible work in our pursuit of justice in cold-case sexual assaults,” said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. “These are often very difficult investigations and prosecutions, and our talented SAKI teams rise to the occasion time and again. I am thankful for their efforts and our partnership with Prosecutor Getting in securing these convictions, and to the victim in this case, who showed great courage and strength in her testimony as she sought justice all these years later.”
The Kalamazoo SAKI unit received approval from the Michigan State Police Forensics Lab to resubmit the victim’s kit for further testing in October 2021 based on advances in DNA testing.
The additional testing identified Linn’s DNA on the victim’s cervical smears in 2022, and he was charged in October of that year.
The woman testified that she suffered extreme mental anguish immediately after and in the 14 years since she was assaulted.
“I am incredibly proud of the work done by the Kalamazoo SAKI team,” said Kalamazoo County Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Getting. “This trial was the culmination of hundreds of hours of work by dedicated investigators, victim advocates, and attorneys. With their help and support, a survivor of sexual assault has seen that the system works. The man who took advantage of her, who hurt her, will now be sent to prison for his actions.”
