People of Michigan v. Joel Howard James

Swartzle, JJ.

*100 If a crime occurs, but no one reports it, is it still a crime? To ask the question is to answer it. The state of Michigan has an interest in discovering previously unreported crimes, and this interest serves as a rational basis for the Legislature's tolling of the statute of limitations with respect to nonresidents charged with a crime that remained unreported until after the untolled limitations period had lapsed.

*101 Defendant, a resident of Alaska, allegedly sexually assaulted a female minor while visiting Michigan in the 1990s. The statute of limitations periods expired in 2006…