A former Dallas lawyer was convicted of sexually assaulting a child, but his attorney said the defendant never touched the girl and there were legal errors in the trial. He plans to file a motion for a new trial, said defense lawyer Tom Pappas.

A Collin County jury found disbarred Dallas attorney Michael Harssema guilty of sexual assault of a child and two counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact, and he was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison and pay a $10,000 fine for each of the three convictions. He’ll serve concurrent sentences on two of the three convictions, which means his total sentence is 40 years, according to Collin County District Clerk records. Harssema was arrested March 9, and he’s being held in the Collin County Jail, according to jail records.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]