Friday, August 18, 2006

You can't charge for nine years?

Sarah Johnson and Matt Edge successfully defended Judge Bornholdt's dismissal of five counts of aggravated criminal sodomy and five counts of rape based on statute of limitation grounds in State v. Thomas, No. 93,980 (Kan. App. Aug. 18, 2006)(unpublished). The charges occurred in 1994 and 1995, but the state didn't file charges until 2004. The state had alleged that Mr. Thomas was not in Kansas, tolling the statute. But Judge Bornholdt held that "Thomas had been absent from Kansas a total of 1,366 days . . . and the State had to prove Thomas was absent for a total of 1,476 days for the complaint to fall within the statute of limitations." The COA gave deference to Judge Bornholdt's findings rejected the state's claim that certain evidence (like the fact that Mr. Thomas had a Missouri driver's licence proved he was out of the state) and affirmed the dismissal.

[Update: the state did not file a petition for review and the mandate issued on September 21, 2006]

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