Nearly two decades after a child was first abused, a Hillsdale County judge has handed down a decades-long prison term to the man a jury found responsible.
James Carter, 63, was sentenced Wednesday to 35 to 45 years in prison after a Hillsdale County jury convicted him of sexually assaulting a child in 2008. Judge Sara Lisznyai imposed the sentence in Hillsdale County Circuit Court. Carter had previously lived in Prescott and later in Georgia before being brought back to Michigan to face the long-pending charges. The case was prosecuted by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office.
Sentence and verdict
According to a press release from the Michigan Attorney General's Office, Carter was convicted on Feb. 4 of four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of accosting a child for immoral purposes. Judge Lisznyai then sentenced him to 35 to 45 years in prison.
Attorney General Dana Nessel praised the courage of the survivors and credited Operation Survivor Justice with helping bring Carter to trial, saying that sexual assault survivors carry the impact of these crimes for their entire lives. The release also notes that Carter was first charged in August 2011 and later extradited to Michigan to finally face the case.
How he was brought back to Michigan
Local coverage reports that after those initial 2011 charges were filed, Carter fled Michigan and was later located in Georgia. He was extradited to Hillsdale County in March 2025 by the U.S. Marshals Service as part of Operation Survivor Justice, a roundup targeting fugitives with outstanding sexual assault warrants, as reported by WILX.
Prosecutors have said that tracking Carter down and returning him to Michigan were key steps in giving survivors their day in court after nearly twenty years.
Previous coverage and local response
Hoodline previously covered Carter’s February conviction, outlining the jury’s findings and his exposure to a potential life sentence on the criminal sexual conduct counts; see Former Prescott Man Convicted. The Detroit News later reported on the April sentencing and noted that Hillsdale County Prosecutor Dawn VanDusen was not immediately available for comment.
Legal note
First-degree criminal sexual conduct in Michigan can carry a life sentence, and the accosting charge carries up to four years, according to the Michigan Attorney General's Office. The office stated that the jury found Carter guilty of assaulting a minor in 2008 and that Judge Lisznyai imposed the 35 to 45 year term on Wednesday in Hillsdale County Circuit Court.
The case is one more result of coordinated efforts by state and federal partners to pursue alleged offenders even years after abuse is reported. Prosecutors say these operations are designed to give survivors a path to justice long after the crimes first come to light.
