In June 2017, an 8-year-old girl known in court records as M.S. told her mother that she had been sexually abused by the mother’s ex-boyfriend, 31-year-old Clayton Groves.
The mother would later testify that when her daughter first came to her, she could not get the words out and wrote two notes. The first said, “He put his thing in my bottom.” The second said, “He said to me boy you know how to hump.”
A month later, M.S. told a police investigator in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, that Groves “would touch me on the leg and on the stomach and my private parts and I didn’t like it.” She said that in November 2016, Groves had touched her private parts “like ten” times.
Groves told the police he was innocent. He said he had lived with the girl and her mother during the summer of 2016 but moved out in November of that year. He said he sometimes picked the girl up after school.
An officer asked Groves if he was ever in an inappropriate situation with M.S. Groves said he and the girl sometimes had dance parties and cuddled together on the couch. Groves also told investigators that he didn’t remember many of the details during his time living with M.S. and her mother, because he was “running wild,” drinking and using cocaine.
Police arrested Groves on November 7, 2017, charging him with three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Prior to trial, Groves’s attorney, Chris Sailors, asked the court to review M.S.’s psychological records and any investigations by police or child protective services related to allegations made by the girl against her father, D.S.
At a hearing on May 17, 2018, Sailors said that the girl had reported to Mille Lacs County’s Department of Social Services that her father had sexually abused her. Sailors said the agency had investigated and concluded the allegations were not true. Sailors said this evidence was relevant to Groves’s defense. The judge asked Groves to provide an affidavit.
Groves said that he thought M.S.’s allegations against her father were made in 2014 or 2015 to a person at her elementary school. After social services investigated and didn’t substantiate the allegations, M.S. received counseling at the school, Groves said.
The judge denied the motion to review the records, ruling that Groves had “not made a plausible showing that the information sought would lead to anything, much less that it would lead to information that is both material and favorable to his defense.” The judge also said that “this request is no more than a fishing expedition to view privileged documents and records in an effort to possibly uncover some impeachment or credibility damaging materials.”
On June 28, 2018, Groves moved for a speedy trial, and the case was docketed for August 28, 2018.
On August 7, 2018, M.S. spoke again with the police investigator and asserted new allegations against Groves. She said that Groves had taken off her pants and underwear and penetrated her with his penis. The state moved for a continuance and amended the complaint against Groves to include a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Groves objected to the request, but the judge granted the continuance without a hearing.
Groves’s trial in Mille Lacs County District Court began on September 24, 2018. There was no physical or forensic evidence connecting him to the alleged incidents. M.S. testified that the notes she wrote to her mother were true and that she had told the police investigator the truth about Groves touching her private parts and penetrating her with his penis.
The girl’s mother testified that Groves had lived with her in 2016, but that their relationship ended in October 2016. The mother said the girl’s accusations against Groves surprised her because she never suspected Groves of inappropriate behavior and her daughter didn’t act differently around him.
Groves testified that he never sexually abused M.S. He acknowledged he had pled guilty to other unrelated charges in the past but said he did so because he had committed those crimes. Groves also said he thought the mother’s parenting style was too lax and that M.S. was manipulative and would cry to get what she wanted.
Groves also testified that he and the girl’s mother used cocaine while they lived together, although not around M.S.
On September 27, 2018, the jury convicted Groves on all counts. He was later sentenced to 27 years and 6 months in prison.
Groves moved for a new trial, arguing that the trial judge violated his right to a speedy trial by granting the state’s continuance and erred by not reviewing M.S.’s records before determining to exclude them from trial. After a judge in district court affirmed his conviction, Groves appealed.
The appeal said that when granting the state’s request for a continuance, the trial judge wrote that the delay was to give Groves more time to review the amended complaint. But Groves had opposed the delay. The district court did not hold a hearing on the request for a continuance, “so it had no basis or opportunity to question defense counsel or Groves regarding the matter and therefore no basis to conclude that, contrary to what counsel told the court, he actually needed or wanted the extra time.”
The appeal also argued that “Groves made at least a plausible showing that the records he asked the court to review might contain the evidence he sought.”
Groves’s affidavit had outlined what he knew about M.S.’s purported allegations against her father and the results of the social services investigation. While the trial judge expressed concern that the affidavit relied too heavily on hearsay, “Groves was not simply repeating some town rumor or citing a non-knowledgeable source,” the appeal said. The girl’s mother had told Groves about these prior events involving M.S.’s father.
On December 20, 2021, the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction but ordered a judge in Mille Lacs County to review the counseling records and determine if they were material and favorable to Groves’s defense. The appellate court also said that the month-long delay in Grove’s trial wasn’t burdensome and didn’t violate his right to a speedy trial.
After a judge in Mille Lacs County ruled that the counseling records were material, a separate order filed on February 23, 2022, vacated Groves’s convictions. He was released from prison on March 4, 2022.
Groves’s retrial began on May 22, 2023. This time, Sailors was able to introduce the counseling records. The jury acquitted Groves on May 24, 2023.
Groves filed for state compensation on March 4, 2024. In 2026, the Minnesota Legislature awarded him $350,000, including $15,000 in attorney fees.
– Ken Otterbourg
Posting Date: 06-17-2026
