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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   37998 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 27, 2023

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It is limited to five years, and it is a very common rule. Most states have it. And while that might be the purpose of a SOL, it is not the only policy consideration. Another policy consideration is that criminals should not be encouraged to attempt to avoid justice by fleeing the jurisdiction. Hence, it is not dumb. It is a compromise between competing principles.

That would be true IF the person leaving the jurisdiction somehow prevented the government from prosecuting the case or gathering facts. Maybe that was true once upon time but no longer in today’s world. At minimum there should be a rebuttal presumption.

That would not address the problem of criminals avoiding justice entirely by fleeing and waiting out the SOL. Which is the problem that the tolling statute is meant to address. There are many legitimate, yet mutually inconsistent, ways of compromising among the competing principles. The fact that the one chosen by the NY legislature is not the one you would have chosen does not render their choice stupid.

That is what a WARRANT is for!

You issue the warrant, and then if the person in question is out of state the charge has been filed.

There is nothing about being out of state that prevents the filing of charges, the prosecution of charges sure you need the person to be present for trial... but countless people have fled the country and warrants were procured in their absense.

The SOL applies to before the charges are filed. There is no reason the presense or absense of a person would limit the filing of charges unless you need them to be present to even get the evidence, for which you'd accuse them of a crime... which you can get warrants to procure evidence...

So the only reason absense would play on the statute of limitations is there is not even enough evidence to procure a warrant to procure evidence... in which case its litterally just hearsay and speculation, and there's no goddamn reason the statute of limitations shouldn't be running.

Of course, one could toll SOL after an indictment which solves your problem. It is dumb because it defeats the purposes behind the SOL in todays world.

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