Appeals Court Won't Upset Chad Curtis' Sex Case Convictions

HASTINGS, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - The state appeals court has affirmed the convictions and sentence of former Detroit Tigers outfielder Chad Curtis, who is in prison for sexual misconduct with teenage girls in western Michigan.

Curtis mostly claimed that his attorney was ineffective at key points of the 2013 trial in Barry County. But the appeals court, in a 3-0 decision released Friday, found nothing that would call for a new trial.

Girls at Lakewood High School, about 50 miles southeast of Grand Rapids, said Curtis touched them inappropriately while he was a volunteer in the weight room. During a probable cause hearing, two teen girls gave their accounts of how the alleged molestation happened.

Curtis denies "doing anything improper," but declined to testify at trial.

The 46-year-old Curtis will be eligible for parole in 2020. Separately, he and the school district are being sued by the girls.

Curtis played Major League baseball from 1992 through 2001.  He played for the Tigers in 1995-1996.

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