ATLANTA — A former sheriff’s deputy will face a jury in Montmorency County today, accused of sexually assaulting a fellow county employee.

The trial of Lachine resident Daniel Oelfke begins this morning with jury selection in the 26th Circuit Court in Atlanta. Oelfke was arrested in early January after a county employee, who knew Oelfke socially, told police that, when the two of them were talking and drinking together, he had restrained her and forced her into unwanted sexual contact in September 2018, according to court records.

The News does not identify victims of sexual assault.

Oelfke, who pleaded not guilty to charges of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, claims that the contact was consensual.

Both parties intend to reference previous physical contact and suggestive electronic communications between the defendant and alleged victim as part of their case.

A “rape-shield” law, in place in most states, including Michigan, limits the ability of a defendant to introduce evidence of an alleged victim’s past sexual conduct as part of the defense.

That evidence, however, may be introduced by the prosecution. Incidences of sexual contact between the defendant and alleged victim may also be raised by the defendant if offered as evidence that the action in the current case was consensual.

The prosecution plans to argue the past encounters showed a pattern of the use of force and coercion to engage in sexual contact.

The defense intends to reference the same encounter, sharing a different version of events, as evidence of an ongoing relationship, of which September’s incident was only a continuation.

The jury will be tasked with deciding whether the past contact between the defendant and the alleged victim, along with ensuing flirtatious texts, is evidence that Oelfke had reason to assume his actions were acceptable.

The jury will be reminded that it is not necessary for the alleged victim to show she resisted the defendant or took steps to lessen the danger to herself in order to prove a crime was committed.

Montmorency County Prosecutor Vicki Kundinger appealed to the state Attorney General’s Office to be disqualified from prosecuting the case because both the defendant and his accuser are county employees. The Otsego County prosecutor, Brendan Curran, will speak for the people at trial.

Oelfke is represented by attorney Douglas Gutscher of the Police Officer’s Association of Michigan.

After the complaint was lodged late last year, the case against Oelfke was investigated by the Michigan Sheriff’s Association Mission Team, which performs initial investigations to assist agencies too small to operate their own internal affairs division.

As of February, Oelfke is no longer employed with the Montmorency County Sheriff’s Department.

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.