A new court ruling means Michigan’s six-year default statute of limitations does apply to felony-firearm convictions.
Possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony is a charge that can only be brought if it happened alongside another crime, called the "predicate felony," that was committed at the same time. Prosecutors in the case had argued that should mean the other crime’s statute of limitations — typically much longer than six years, and sometimes indefinite — should apply to both counts.
But the Michigan Court of Appeals found felony-firearm was still its own crime with its own limit to when charges can be brought.
“While charging an individual with felony-firearm depends on the existence of a predicate felony or attempted felony, felony-firearm is a crime distinct from the underlying felony or attempted felony,” the court’s opinion read.
Christine Pagac is with the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan. She agreed with the decision.
“It’s a ruling that makes sense with the language, the plain language, of the statue. And the prosecution had no principled reason to say that the statute should be anything other than six years, based on the language,” she said.
Pagac said it often doesn’t take that long to charge a gun-related crime, though there could be implications for cold cases and other circumstances.
