SAGINAW, MI — A trial is underway for a Saginaw Intermediate School District bus aide accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting an adult student with special needs.
Unique among sexual assault cases, as the prosecution phrased it, the 70-year-old man’s alleged misconduct was captured on video. The defense attorney, though, said his client was offering the woman comfort and had no sexual designs.
The attorneys presented their opposing views at the outset of Morris Holmes’ trial on Thursday, May 28. Holmes has been charged since December with assault with intent to commit sexual penetration and three counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with a special education student. The first charge is a 10-year felony while the second is a two-year high court misdemeanor.
Addressing the jurors, Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Marissa L. Fillmore said the case is unusual in that they will not hear testimony from Holmes’ alleged victim. The woman has autism spectrum disorder, limiting her verbal abilities, Fillmore said.
Fillmore told the jurors the woman’s mother/guardian will testify.
The woman attended Melvin G. Millet Learning Center and would ride a bus between there and her home, Fillmore said. As an aide, Holmes’ job was to ensure the students were safely and comfortably transported, she said.
“Everything that the defendant is charged with was caught on video,” Fillmore said. “Unfortunately, you’re going to have to see a lot of video and some of it is difficult to watch.”
The woman had no ability to call for help or express what was happening, Fillmore said. However, the jury can draw conclusions from her body language in the footage, she said.
There is no dispute Holmes touched the woman more than a dozen times, Fillmore continued. She urged jurors to rely on their experience and common sense to infer Holmes’ intent.
“You do not need to see inside his head to make that determination,” she said.
Defense attorney Jeffrey J. Rupp shared a different perspective.
“Morris Holmes is a good man,” he said. “He is a hardworking man and he is a caring man.”
Holmes was born in rural Alabama and later moved to Saginaw, where he acquired a job as custodian and bus aide with Saginaw ISD, Rupp said. He was well-liked by students and their parents, receiving greeting cards and gifts from them, he said.
“The first suggestion anything was amiss comes in November 2025, when a parent raises a concern that Morris is sleeping on the bus,” Rupp said.
Saginaw ISD Transportation Director Christopher R. Greenleaf reviewed weeks’ of in-bus camera footage and saw Holmes sitting next to and touching the woman, he said.
“He jumps to a conclusion. He assumes the worst,” Rupp said. “He doesn’t ask Morris any questions. He doesn’t give him the opportunity to explain himself or his actions.”
Greenleaf immediately placed Holmes on administrative leave without telling him why, Rupp said. A few days later, Saginaw Township Police Detective Mindy Worden interviewed Holmes at headquarters. After being read his Miranda rights, Holmes told the detective he had touched the woman but did so to offer her comfort or to check her personal hygiene, Rupp said.
“He makes it clear, at no time, is it done for a sexual purpose or with sexual intent,” Rupp said. “That is never his intent.”
During a February preliminary examination, the prosecution played several days’ video footage recorded by the bus’s cameras. Starting on Oct. 28, the footage showed Holmes helping students get off the bus then sitting in a seat near the rear, across the aisle from the 22-year-old woman. He put his right hand on hers and held it, the footage showed.
Subsequent days’ footage showed Holmes routinely sitting in the same seat across the aisle from the woman. He would allegedly put his right hand in her lap area, then remove it as she fidgeted.
As the days progressed, the woman would more often slump in her seat, put her knees together against the seat in front of her, or curl up away from Holmes. In tandem with this, Holmes more frequently put his right hand on her inner thigh, on her knee, and on her back under her shirt, the footage allegedly showed.
Detective Worden testified in that same hearing that Holmes told her he believed special needs students have poor hygiene. He admitted to putting his hand in the waistband of the woman’s pants and “near the top” of her vaginal area, Worden said.
Holmes told Worden he did not touch any other students, nor did he bring his alleged concerns for the woman to his supervisors, the detective testified. Worden also asked Holmes why he touched the woman on 19 separate days.
“He didn’t have an explanation,” Worden said.
Holmes’ employment with the school district has since been terminated.
Saginaw County Circuit Judge Manvel Trice III is presiding over Holmes’ trial.
