7.6Information Must Allege Fact Triggering Mandatory Minimum
Under MCL 750.520b(2)(b), a first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC-I) “offense committed by an individual 17 years old or older against an individual under the age of 13 carries a 25-year mandatory minimum sentence.” People v Beck, 510 Mich 1, 27 (2022). “If the defendant’s age is not charged and found by the jury, there is no mandatory minimum.” Id. at 28. “Accordingly, this fact increases the minimum penalty of the crime and therefore is an element that must be charged.” Id. at 28-29.1 The trial court plainly erred when it “applied the mandatory minimum to both counts of CSC-I despite only one of them being charged as ‘Defendant 17 years of age or older.’” Id. at 29. In order to impose the mandatory minimum, “the information must allege the fact triggering the mandatory minimum for each count subject to that minimum.” Id. at 27.
1 Under the Sixth Amendment, “[o]ther than the fact of a prior conviction, any fact that increases the penalty for a crime beyond the prescribed statutory maximum must be submitted to a jury, and proved beyond a reasonable doubt.” Apprendi v New Jersey, 530 US 466, 490 (2000); see also Blakely v Washington, 542 US 296, 303-304 (2004). In Alleyne v United States, 570 US 99, 112 (2013), the United States Supreme Court extended the Apprendi/Blakely rule to “mandatory minimum” sentences. “[A] fact is an element when it ‘increases the punishment above what is otherwise legally prescribed’ or ‘increase[s] the mandatory minimum sentence.’” People v Beck, 510 Mich 1, 28 (2022), quoting Alleyne, 570 US at 108 (alteration in original). The Beck Court noted that “[t]his rule applied to jury findings in Alleyne, but it also applies to what must be charged in an indictment.” Beck, 510 Mich at 28.