ALLEGAN COUNTY — The Michigan Court of Appeals has rejected an Allegan County man’s argument that a criminal sexual conduct conviction violated his due process rights.

Nathan Daniel Gilliam, 56, appealed his conviction by jury trial of two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and subsequent sentencing of 262 months to 540 months — 21 years and 10 months to 45 years — in prison. Gilliam argued amendments to the state’s statute of limitations for CSC and admission of certain evidence violated his rights.

Judges Noah Hood, Christopher Murray and Allie Greenleaf Maldonado disagreed with those arguments and affirmed the lower court’s decision.

The case stems from Gilliam’s repeated sexual assault of his stepdaughter, referred to as AM in court documents, starting in or around 1998. Charges encompassed assaults from 1998-2003, when AM was ages 11-16; AM testified Gilliam assaulted her until she was able to leave the family home at 25 years old.

AM first reported the abuse in 2020, when she was 33. Gilliam was charged with sexual assault in January 2021. He was found guilty by jury trial of two of five charges against him, with the other three dismissed during the trial. The court sentenced Gilliam in May 2022.

His appeal argues legislation passed to extend the statute of limitations was unconstitutional. At the time the assaults began, the statute of limitations for CSC cases was six years or before the victim turned 21, whichever was later.

However, in 2001, the state legislature removed the statute of limitations for CSC cases, allowing them to be brought forward anytime. Gilliam’s crimes were within the previous statute when the new legislation was passed in 2001.

The Court of Appeals noted “the applicable statute of limitations never exposed Gilliam to new penalties or re-exposed him to criminal liability that had lapsed.”

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Gilliam also argued the trial court erred in admitting evidence of assaults against AM that weren’t included in the charges, and a prior conviction of sexual assault against another child victim, labeled HS.

Those assaults happened in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when HS was between ages 8 and 11. Gilliam ultimately admitted to the allegations, resulting in a second degree CSC conviction in 1991.

The appeals court judges rejected that argument as well. They said the trial court correctly reviewed the evidence and supported its ruling that “the probative value of the evidence as to both witnesses outweighed the danger of unfair prejudice.”

Gilliam is housed at the Saginaw Correctional Facility, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections. His earliest release date is Feb. 12, 2044, with a latest discharge date of Nov. 5, 2058.

— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Court of Appeals upholds Allegan County assault conviction