U.S. v. Hagler

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Criminal Court
Statute of Limitations
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 11-2984
Decision Date: 
November 21, 2012
Federal District: 
N.D. Ind., Ft. Wayne Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed
In prosecution on bank robbery charge, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion to dismiss indictment even though indictment was filed approximately 10 years after commission of charged offense, and charged offense had applicable 5-year limitation period. Instant limitation period was tolled under language contained in 18 USC section 3297 where, as here, DNA test did not implicate defendant as culprit until eight years after commission of offense. Ct rejected defendant’s argument that limitations period began two years after offense when police received 40 “hits” from unknown individuals on mixed DNA profile since circumstances of hits did not strongly tie particular individual to charged offense. Also, defendant failed to support claim that pre-trial delay denied him due process where any delay did not affect his ability to present viable defense or challenge accuracy of operative DNA test results.