Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan
what is the statue of limitation for a retail fraud for the first offense, i was pulled over and told i had a warrant for a retail fraud that happened 10 yrs ago
3 Answers from Attorneys
An outstanding warrant is not affected by the Statute of Limitations.
For more information on Michigan criminal law and procedure, go to:
www.AggressiveCriminalDefense.com
The statute of limitations does not play a role here. The good news is that the Prosecutor may have a hard time locating records, witnesses, documents, etc...
For additional questions or concerns, contact Daniel Hajji 248.865.4700.
The "statute of limitations" only impacts how long the prosecutor has to issue a complaint. The general criminal statute of limitations is 6 years after the crime date. So, if it was issued within that time frame, but you were never arrested on the warrant until years after that, then you don't have a jurisdictional statute of limiations defense.
But, you might have a defense regarding a delay in police executing the warrant (arresting you) if, for example, you lived in the same place all that time and police should have taken reasonable action to find you and bring you before the court (which is what the Warrant orders them to do). This 'defense' will be more viable if you can show actual prejudice by the delay (e.g., an important defense witness is now dead, defense witnesses no longer have a recollection of the incident, etc.).
As noted in another reply, the 10 year delay may be a "practical defense" because witnesses that the prosecution may need may be dead, may not have recollection of the incident (or of YOU ... since "identity" is always an element in a criminal charge), etc.
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