Michigan Couple Sentenced For Filming Themselves Raping One-Year-Old Girl

A Michigan couple has been sentenced for the heinous crimes they committed against a one-year-old girl. According to Fox 17, Stevie Foehl, 28, and Michael Emory, 26, were arrested and charged for raping the little girl. Then, to make matters worse they filmed the horrific act. Emory and Foehl were reportedly friends of the child’s mother. The incident, which took place back in 2012, occurred while they were support to be babysitting the little girl.

It was reported that the couple actually took turns recording each other with the child. The assault of a 14-year-old prompted the investigation on the couple. That’s when detectives discovered the footage of the one-year-old on Emory’s computer.

On Thursday, Feb. 19, the couple stood before Judge Dennis Leiber in 17th Circuit Court who sentenced them both to life in prison on charges of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

According to M-Live, the sentencing follows the couple’s guilty pleas entered back in January. Emory pleaded guilty to three counts of “first-degree criminal sexual conduct, possession of child sexually material and using a computer to commit a crime.” However, Foehl pleaded guilty to one count for the same three charges. Judge Leiber briefly explained the severity of the couple’s “unspeakable crimes” and condemned them for the child’s suffering.

“Criminal sexual conduct in the first degree is one of the more serious crimes,” said Judge Dennis Leiber during Thursday’s sentencing. “I don’t know how to quantify the horror this child was put through.”

Although the damage has been done, the couple did express remorse for their actions in their prepared statements.

“To say I’m remorseful is an understatement,” Foehl said. “If I could go back and change my actions I would.”

“I’d just like to apologize to the family of the victim,” Emory said in his statement before being sentenced. “Every day I wake up and wish I could take this back, all I can try to do is make the future better, make things better somehow.”

The Comstock Park couple also received mental health exams following their arrests. According to a previous report, the exam was “meant to determine if a defendant lacks the capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his or her conduct, or to conform his or her conduct to the requirements of the law.” The examination also delayed the previously scheduled trial, which was originally suppose to take place in June of 2014.

Although Emory’s attorney argued that his client should be eligible for rehabilitation since he was remorseful, Judge Leiber denied the request stating that any possibility of rehabilitation for Emory would be bleak. The couple’s remorseful statements reportedly contradicted the purpose of the examination, eliminating the possibility of mental illness.

WWMT reports Foehl received a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. However, Emory was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

[Image via Kent County Jail]