Georgia Man Sentenced to Over 400 Years in Prison

A Carrollton man was sentenced in Alabama to 438 years in prison for what was described as “the most disturbing child sexual assaults.”

According to reports, Michael Lesher, a 53-year-old man was convicted in March and sentenced this past week for raping, sodomizing, and sexually abusing two minor family members. His wife was also charged with sexual offenses in relation to the same case.

Even though, Lesher has been convicted of crimes in Alabama, Georgia has its own laws for the offenses that he has been found guilty of committing.

In Georgia, Lesher would have been convicted of:

• Rape in Georgia
• Sodomy in Georgia
• Aggravated Child Molestation in Georgia
• Incest in Georgia

As a Georgia Sex Crimes Lawyer, I will outline the law behind one of the offenses that Lesher was convicted of - incest in the state of Georgia. This is not the most horrendous crime that he was convicted of - but most people in the state of Georgia are unaware that incest actually happens and is in fact a very serious criminal offense.

Incest in Georgia

Incest in Georgia is defined in O.C.G.A. § 16-6-22 as:

A person commits the offense of incest when such person engages in sexual intercourse or sodomy, with a person whom he or she knows he or she is related to either by blood or by marriage as follows:

• Father and child or stepchild
• Mother and child or stepchild;
• Siblings of the whole blood or of the half blood;
• Grandparent and grandchild of the whole blood or of the half blood;
• Aunt and niece or nephew of the whole blood or of the half blood; or
• Uncle and niece or nephew of the whole blood or of the half blood. 

Incest is classified as a felony. The punishment will be a prison term between ten and thirty years. However, if the child was under 14 years old, then the prison term gets escalated to between twenty-five and fifty years. In addition to prison, a person convicted of incest will be required to register as a sex offender with the Georgia Sex Offender Registry.

Practice Note

Even with sex crimes in Georgia, some people are wrongfully charged and do not receive a fair chance because people deem them guilty from the beginning.

We have over 50 combined years of criminal law experience and are here to help you. We understand that all people should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.