On May 17, 2018, 48-year-old Antonio Manzo-Diaz turned himself in to police in Wayne County, Michigan. He was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was accused of sexually molesting an 11-year-old boy nearly two years earlier while the boy slept over in Manzo-Diaz’s Melvindale, Michigan home following Manzo-Diaz’s son’s 8th birthday party.
The boy, D.H., claimed that during the night of September 25, 2016, he awoke to discover Manzo-Diaz giving him oral sex. He said he tried to fight him off and when Manzo-Diaz backed off, he went back to sleep.
D.H. made the accusation after his great-grandparents, with whom he lived, caught him looking at pornography on his mobile phone. They took away his phone, barred him from playing his video games and banished him to a bedroom in the basement. In response, he accused Manzo-Diaz of molesting him.
Questioned by police, Manzo-Diaz, who was 46 years old at the time of the alleged crime and had never been accused of a crime before, denied molesting the boy.
In December 2018, Manzo-Diaz went to trial in Wayne County Circuit Court. There was no forensic or physical evidence. The case rested on the testimony of Manzo-Diaz’s family members against the testimony of D.H. and his family.
Manzo-Diaz had five children. His youngest, Vladimyr, turned eight on September 23, 2016. A birthday party, an outdoor barbeque, was held on Sunday, September 25. Most of the guests were family members, except for D.H., who was a friend of Vladimyr. In the past, D.H. had occasionally come to the home to play video games with Vladimyr.
D.H. testified that he asked to spend the night after the party ended about 8:30 p.m. D.H. said the party was on a Saturday and that he was allowed to stay over because there was no school the next day. He said his great-grandfather, Camerino Flores, gave him permission to stay over. D.H. said the party included a rented bouncy house for the children to play in.
D.H. said he slept in Vladimyr’s bed, which was in the master bedroom where Manzo-Diaz had his bed. Vladimyr slept on the living room couch, D.H. said.
D.H. told the jury that he awoke to find Manzo-Diaz’s mouth on his penis. He said he didn’t say anything afterward to anyone because he was embarrassed and thought he might get into trouble.
D.H. admitted that he had lied about various things in the past. He said that he had seen his parents engage in oral sex when he was very young. He said that he had been looking at Flores’s cell phone and saw an advertisement for a pornography website and that he then visited the website on his own phone.
Flores testified that he and his wife, Lydia Reyes-Flores, had been raising D.H. since he was five after the boy was effectively abandoned at a police station by his mother. Flores said he picked up D.H. on the day following the party and sleepover, and that there was no school that day. He said that D.H. never would have been allowed to stay over had there been classes at D.H.’s school, Davidson Middle School, the next day.
The defense suggested that the allegation had been concocted because Manzo-Diaz owed money to Flores and his wife for a loan Manzo-Diaz had obtained from them to fund his restaurant. Flores denied that claim and said the debt had been reduced to only $1,400 by the time the allegation was made.
Lydia testified that she was the head of a Latino Services Organization, which provided services to needy people. She denied that she had threatened to send Manzo-Diaz to jail for not repaying the loan. She said D.H. had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and admitted that he occasionally lied, but about whether he had done his homework.
Lydia also said that although she was not sure when the party took place, she knew the schools “have half day schools. They have days that they don’t go to school.”
Vladimyr testified that D.H. did not sleep over. He said he slept in his own bed, not on the couch.
The defense presented testimony from Manzo-Diaz’s daughters, 18-year-old Kelly, 19-year-old Vanessa, and 21-year-old Stephanie. All said that the party occurred on Sunday, that D.H. did not stay over, and that there was no bouncy house. Manzo-Diaz’s ex-wife and her boyfriend, both of whom were at the party, also testified that the event was on Sunday and that Torres picked up D.H. at about 8 p.m. that evening.
Flores claimed that Stephanie stayed home to watch D.H. on Monday. However, Stephanie, who was pregnant at the time, testified that D.H. was not there. She said her godmother was visiting for the party and they spent Monday shopping for the new baby.
Manzo-Diaz testified and denied committing the crime. He said that he was at the door when Flores came to pick up D.H. near the end of the party.
On December 8, 2018, the jury convicted Manzo-Diaz of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
At his sentencing on January 18, 2019, Manzo-Diaz said, “I am not guilty. It’s an injustice what is happening to me. I hope they consider this case again because I am innocent.”
Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Donald Knapp sentenced Manzo-Diaz to 25 to 40 years in prison.
In 2022, D.H. went to at school resource officer at his high school and announced he needed to report a sexual assault at a 2016 birthday party – this time by Manzo-Diaz’s daughter, Kelly. D.H. said he had already reported an assault by Kelly’s father, but there was more he had withheld from police. He provided an account of a lengthy sexual assault by Kelly that he said took place in the middle of the birthday party. He said that he believed Kelly’s brothers were watching. He said that despite that, he was still allowed to spend the night and woke up to Manzo-Diaz assaulting him.
The police did not believe this story and asked the prosecution for direction. The prosecutor said they didn’t need to alert Manzo-Diaz because he had no appellate attorney and this wasn’t a recantation. The police referred charges against Kelly, but the prosecution refused to file any charges.
Manzo-Diaz’s request for appellate counsel had been processed incorrectly, so his appeal didn’t begin until 2023.
On appeal, Manzo-Diaz’s attorney, Emma Lawton of the Michigan State Appellate Defender Office, argued that Manzo-Diaz’s trial defense attorney had provided an inadequate legal defense by failing to investigate and provide impeachment evidence that D.H.’s school, Davidson Middle School, had a full day of classes on Monday, September 26, the day after the party.
The appeal also argued that the trial lawyer should have called an expert to testify about D.H.’s delayed disclosure. It further argued that D.H’s 2022 allegations were new evidence that directly contradicted his trial testimony and, in context, made his accusations against Manzo-Diaz not credible.
In May 2024, the Michigan Court of Appeals remanded the case to the trial court for a hearing.
The defense was prepared to call the police officer who investigated D.H.’s 2022 allegation. The officer was going to testify that D.H.’s story did not make sense. However, the hearing was not held because the prosecution agreed that Manzo-Diaz was entitled to a new trial based on the defense claims.
On January 10, 2025, Judge Knapp vacated Manzo-Diaz’s conviction on “the basis of newly-discovered evidence.”
On January 31, 2025, the prosecution dismissed the charge, and Manzo-Diaz was released.
- Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 05-01-2025
Last Update Date: 05-01-2025
