Thomas Guthrie

ALPENA — An Alpena man convicted of sexual assault will not get a new sentence and will have to pay court costs, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled recently.

Thomas Guthrie, 55, was convicted in 2017 of raping a man in 2005 and sentenced to 20 to 50 years in prison.

He appealed and in 2019 the Michigan Court of Appeals threw out one of two charges against Guthrie and sent the case back to the local court for resentencing. In 2021, Judge Jason Elmore, of Wexford County but presiding over the Alpena County case, sentenced Guthrie to the same 20 to 50 years in prison.

Guthrie appealed again, arguing in the latest appeal that the court did not properly score his case on the pre-sentencing paperwork judges use to help determine sentences for crimes. He also argued in the latest appeal that he was denied due process, his sentence was disproportionate to his crimes, and that he should not have to pay court costs.

A three-judge appellate panel denied all of his arguments and affirmed his 2021 sentence, meaning Guthrie will remain in state prison until at least 2037 and perhaps as late as 2067.

The judges said the scoring “reflected on defendant’s extensive criminal history” and noted the trial court actually sentenced Guthrie “very close to the low end of his guidelines range.”

The court called Guthrie’s arguments about being denied due process “brief and unclear.”

The court noted Guthrie in his appeal failed “to present any convincing argument that his sentence, already near the bottom of the guidelines range, was disproportionate or improper.”

Finally, the Court of Appeals noted that the Michigan Supreme Court had recently declined to hear an appeal calling court costs unconstitutional, meaning the decision to impose court cots is up to the trial court judge and “the court costs imposed were proper.”

CORRECTION: This article has been updated to reflect that the Michigan Court of Appeals in 2019 threw out one of two charges against Thomas Guthrie. The number of charges on which he was originally convicted was inaccurate in an earlier version of this story.

Guthrie Resentencing Opinion by Justin Hinkley on Scribd