JACKSON, MI – A 28-year-old man said his wife suggested the couple introduce their 3-year-old daughter into their sex life.

“She said we should spice things up,” the man testified during his wife's preliminary examination Friday, Nov. 8, before Jackson County Circuit Judge R. Darryl Mazur

The couple was living in a room with one bed and a couch with a “fold out” mattress at the Avalon Hotel in Blackman Township. They were having sex and their daughter, now 4, got into their bed.

His wife held down the girl’s arms while he tried to penetrate the child, the man said.

The girl was crying and her mother was telling her to relax, he said.

They eventually moved the girl “off to the side” and the husband and wife “finished having sex,” he testified.

Mazur heard his statements and found there was probable cause to believe the woman, 36, participated in and perpetuated this and other sexual acts from October 2012 until May.

Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Walker moved to amend the allegations against her, and the woman now faces seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of first-degree child abuse. She originally was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Mazur agreed to alter the charges and sent the woman’s case to circuit court, where it will be handled by Judge John McBain.

He revoked the woman’s bond. Both she and her husband, married about five years, remain in the county jail.

Their names are being withheld because they share a last name with their daughter and the Citizen Patriot typically does not publish the names of victims in sexual assault cases.

Last month, the man pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in prison. He will serve at least 25 years because of the girl's age and he could serve consecutive terms of 25 years or more for each count.

As part of a plea agreement, the prosecutor’s office is dismissing 10 other criminal sexual conduct counts and the man has to testify truthfully against his wife.

The woman’s lawyer, George Lyons, contends the man is not a credible witness. He said he plans to prove this.

When Lyons questioned him Friday, the man admitted he was not pleased because his wife “turned him in as a child rapist.”

It was the woman who alerted the authorities to the sexual abuse, Lyons said.

Lyons said, in defending the woman, he intends to argue the man controlled his wife through drugs and physical abuse.

The man denied this.

When he and his wife sexually assaulted their daughter, he said he was only using alcohol.

The man described two other sexual events during which the pair involved their daughter. One was similar to the first.

On the third occasion, the man said the couple was again having sex. Their daughter had removed her diaper and he said his wife picked her up and placed her on her father while he was on his back.

He said the girl was again crying and asking “why?”

Assistant Prosecutor Steven Idema had to coax this testimony from the man, who at first said there were only two incidents involving his wife.

“I tried to forget the whole thing to be honest,” the man said before he was shown a copy of his statement to police, which helped refresh his memory.

The man said his wife also had watched, without stopping him, as he sexually assaulted their daughter. The girl was “saying, ‘No,’ over and over again.”

When asked how many times he abused his daughter, the man could not provide a number.

“You can’t even count the times,” Lyons said.

Lyons pointed out some discrepancies in the man’s statements.

“You’ve told so many stories you can’t keep them straight can you?” Lyons said.

The man said his recollection is accurate.

Blackman-Leoni Township public safety Detective Sgt. Christopher Boulter said the man’s credibility is bolstered by the fact he pleaded guilty to two counts of an offense that could put him in prison for the rest of his life.

Of course a defense lawyer would attack the believe-ability of a key witness, Prosecutor Jerry Jarzynka said.

Jarzynka called the cases a “horrible series of incidents.”

“If you are 3 years old, you would expect your mom and dad to look out for your best interest," he said.