Victim: No jail plea deal 'a miscarriage of justice'

LANSING - A former pediatric dentist once convicted of 15 sexual assault charges accepted a plea deal Thursday that avoids a third trial but does not include jail time, probation or require him to register as a sex offender.

"Well, my personal opinion, I think it's a miscarriage of justice," said Ryan Lewis, the victim in the case. "I think at the end of the day, the justice system looks at what's proficient more than it looks at victims' rights." The State Journal does not typically identify alleged victims of sexual assault but Lewis came forward and told his story to the newspaper last year.

Lewis and his family sat in the gallery Thursday as Wendell Racette, 69, pleaded no contest to a first-degree child abuse charge as part of a plea deal with county prosecutors that included a sentence agreement of time served.

Racette served three years, three months and 13 days after his 2012 convictions — five counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and 10 counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct — for alleged abuses between 1996 and 2000. Lewis, the alleged victim, was between the ages of 5 and 10 during that time.

Racette's convictions resulted from a second trial as a jury was unable to reach a verdict in a first trial held in 2011.

Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette sentenced Racette to 15 to 30 years in prison for each of the first-degree charges and seven years, two months to 15 years for the second-degree charges.

His earliest release date would have been in 2027. Racette has been free on bond since Jan. 11.

The Court of Appeals overturned Racette's convictions in September, saying, in part, that the jury was presented with too much evidence of Racette's abuses of other alleged victims.

In October, the Ingham County Prosecuting Attorney's Office appealed that ruling to the state Supreme Court. It was denied. That ruling left prosecutors facing a potential third trial.

Across 20 years and 2 trials, an accusation of childhood rape

Racette will be sentenced May 3 by Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Clinton Canady III. The sentence agreement is between Racette and prosecutors, so if Canady decides to sentence Racette to jail or prison, he'll have the opportunity to withdraw his plea and the case will be set for trial.

The plea deal also included no parole for Racette. Shannon Smith, Racette's attorney, declined to comment after Thursday's hearing.

Lewis, who is now 26, said he was told Tuesday that the prosecutors had made the plea offer to Racette, and that he met with prosecutors again Thursday. Lewis and his father said they don't think the prosecutor's office considered their wishes during plea negotiations.

Lisa McCormick, Ingham County chief assistant prosecuting attorney, said her office consulted with Lewis and his family throughout the entire process leading up to Thursday's hearing. She added that prosecutors had to balance Lewis' wishes with what they felt they could prove beyond a reasonable doubt in court.

"We feel that this a just result in light of all the issues in the case," McCormick said.

Lewis said it's "offensive" that prosecutors thought he would go along with a sentence agreement for time served and a dismissal of the sexual assault charges.

"It just shows that they don't have the victim's best interest in mind," he said.

McCormick said her office felt time served was fair based on what Racette pleaded to, and that the Court of Appeals ruling "severely limited" the evidence they could introduce, although it didn't eliminate all the testimony about other alleged abuses.

She confirmed that a new alleged victim came forward after the Court of Appeals ruling, but they had to weigh the evidence and and felt there were too many "hurdles with that witness" and didn't think his testimony would be admitted.

McCormick is leading the county's prosecutor's office because Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III faces more than a dozen charges related to prostitution, including pandering, a 20-year felony.

Former dentist convicted of sexual assault to get new trial

Roger Lewis, Ryan Lewis' father, was allowed to address Canady during the plea hearing. He asked the judge to consider requiring Racette to register as a sex offender and said it was difficult to see 15 sexual assault charges reduced to a single child abuse charge, even though the charge carries a maximum sentence of up to life in prison.

Racette pleaded no contest to avoid having a guilty plea be used against him in a potential civil case. As a result, he didn't have to admit to abusing Lewis. Candy read portions of Ryan and Roger Lewis' trial testimony as the factual basis for accepting the plea.

"What we've suffered and been through as a family, what my son has endured," Roger Lewis told Canady, "I think it is an injustice for us as a family to witness this."

Contact Matt Mencarini at (517) 267-1347 or mmencarini@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattMencarini.

What's next

Wendell Racette, 69, will be sentenced May 3 by Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Clinton Canady III.