ALPENA — Aaron Trout, the Alcona County man serving at least a half-century in prison for the death of his girlfriend’s daughter, cannot have parental rights to his own children, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled.

The appellate court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s 2022 decision to terminate Trout’s rights to his three children, writing that Trout exposed his children to domestic violence and at least failed to properly care for his girlfriend’s daughter before she died.

A jury, in January, convicted Trout of second-degree murder and first-degree child abuse in the July 2022 death of 2-year-old Jayde McDonnell, the child of Trout’s then-girlfriend, Adrienne Pavelka. Judge Laura Frawley sentenced Trout to 55 to 90 years in prison for the second-degree murder charge and 30 to 60 years for the first-degree child abuse charge.

Pavelka separately pleaded guilty to child abuse and received a 15- to 40-year sentence.

In 2021, the Alcona County court forbade the mother of Trout’s children from having any contact with the children because she had committed domestic violence against Trout, according to the Court of Appeals. Trout nonetheless allowed the mother to move back in, when more domestic violence ensued.

That fact and the murder charges against Trout led the Alcona County prosecutor to ask the court to terminate Trout’s parental rights in fall 2022.

Trout argued to the Court of Appeals that he shouldn’t be held responsible for the domestic violence on the part of his children’s mother because he was the victim, not the aggressor, and said he didn’t abuse McDonnell and shouldn’t be held responsible for her care because she was not his child.

The appellate court, however, agreed with the trial court.

The trial court “respected (Trout’s) presumption of innocence in his criminal matter,” the Court of Appeals said, but agreed to terminate Trout’s parental rights “because of his failure to take remedial measures in response to the domestic violence to which his children were exposed and additional domestic abuse that led to the death of his girlfriend’s daughter.”

The entire Michigan Court of Appeals decision on Aaron Trout’s appeal of the termination of his parental rights is below.

Trout Court of Appeals Opinion by JustinHinkley on Scribd