In State v. Pelayo, the Defendant appealed his 2022 conviction for raping his niece, arguing that the jury instruction on the statute of limitations was incorrect. He was correct and the case was dismissed.
The defendant was convicted for a rape that occurred in 1995 or 1996 when his niece was approximately 12 years old. Although the niece disclosed the crime to family members in her late teens, she did not report it to law enforcement until 2010. The defendant was indicted in 2011, over 15 years after the alleged offense.
The court noted that Georgia law provides that the statute of limitations for rape is 15 years unless the victim was under 16 at the time of the offense, in which case the limitation period begins when the victim turns 16 or reports the crime, whichever occurs first. These exceptions are known as the “tolling provisions.” Importantly, these tolling provisions must be explicitly alleged in the indictment. Here, the indictment did not allege them. The defendant’s conviction was reversed, and the case was remanded back to the trial court.
Indictments are critical in all cases, but particularly sex crime cases. They require different information that other crimes do not need. Hiring a lawyer skilled in crimes involving sexual offenses is critical.
As of January 28, 2025, the current law on this topic is:
(b) For crimes committed on and after July 1, 2012, if the victim of a violation of:
(1) Trafficking a person for sexual servitude, as defined in Code Section 16-5-46;
(2) Cruelty to children in the first degree, as defined in Code Section 16-5-70;
(3) Rape, as defined in Code Section 16-6-1;
(4) Aggravated sodomy, as defined in Code Section 16-6-2;
(5) Child molestation or aggravated child molestation, as defined in Code Section 16-6-4;
(6) Enticing a child for indecent purposes, as defined in Code Section 16-6-5; or
(7) Incest, as defined in Code Section 16-6-22,
is under 16 years of age on the date of the violation and the violation is not subject to punishment as provided in paragraph (2) of subsection (b) of Code Section 16-6-4, paragraph (2) of subsection (d) of Code Section 16-6-4, or subsection (c) of Code Section 16-6-5, a prosecution may be commenced at any time.