New twist in sexual assault case involving former volunteer trac - ABC 12 – WJRT – Flint, MI

(02/26/13) - There's a new twist in the case of Logan Gaines, the former Birch Run volunteer track coach convicted of sexual assault involving students.

In a rare legal maneuver, Gaines was given a new trial.

Last week, in a special ABC12 Investigation, we told you about the controversial decision by Saginaw County's newly elected prosecutor to grant Gaines' request for a new trial - which outraged the victim's families. Under the deal, the prosecutor, the defense and the judge all agreed to a new trial.

Now it appears one of the parties may be having a change of heart.

A bond hearing to see if Logan Gaines would be released from the Saginaw County jail while he awaits his new trial was adjourned on Monday.

Gaines was sentenced to at least four years in prison last April after being convicted of having sexual relations with underaged girls.

Even before the Michigan State Court of Appeals received legal briefs for Gaines' appeal, Saginaw County Prosecutor John McColgan agreed with a defense motion for a new trial for Gaines.

McColgan says the fact that Gaines' parents campaigned for him during the election was not a contributing factor to giving Gaines' case a fresh look.

McColgan says the bond hearing was adjourned because his office is "looking at the case to see what the next step will be. We are looking at all options."

He did not want to discuss what those options are, but Saginaw Valley State University criminal science professor Joe Jaksa describes one possible legal step.

"The easiest option you could see is either the prosecutor or one of the other parties involved in the situation are not going to go through with the agreement to have a retrial," Jaksa said.

We talked to two of the three victims in the case last week, and their mothers, and they all are upset with the decision to grant a new trial.

"Since he was found guilty for the first trial, I don't understand what they are expecting from the second trial, because nothing has changed, everything is the same," one of the victim's said.

We have made several attempts to get in touch with Logan Gaines new attorney, John Royal, but he has not returned our phone calls.