Kavanaugh proceedings on 27 Sept 18 and the statute of limitations on attempted rape
From time to time, laches issues arise in patent law. The discussion of "statute of limitations" in the Kavanaugh matter was of interest.
In an article titled Why Maryland police aren’t investigating the Kavanaugh allegations the Washington Post addresses the issue of the relevant statute of limitations which arose during the Senate proceeding on 27 September 2018.
The article confirms that, presently, there is no "statute of limitations" on attempted rape, now a felony:
The Maryland legislature changed the law in 1996, making attempted rape a felony and removing the statute of limitations, according to McCarthy and Jordan.
HOWEVER, the relevant law would be as it existed at the time of the crime, which was before 1996:
“But we’d have to apply the law as it existed at the time of the allegations,” McCarthy said.
(...)
As a misdemeanor, the offense carried a one-year statute of limitations, meaning charges would have had to be filed within a year of an incident, according to John McCarthy, Montgomery County’s longtime chief prosecutor. Lisae C. Jordan, the executive director and counsel for the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and other longtime Maryland lawyers interviewed in recent days concurred.
A separate issue of interest was the matter of the leak, brought up by Senators Cruz and Cornyn. Senator Feinstein emphatically denied leaking, by herself or by her staff. A semantic issue may be the distinction between the actual letter itself compared to the factual contents of the letter. The DailyMail gave a bit of a timeline:
JULY 6: Christine Ford sends a letter to Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) alleging that she was sexually assaulted in high school by Brett Kavanaugh, a leading contender to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by Justice Anthony Kennedy. Ford also sends a text about the incident to the Washington Post. The assault allegedly took place in the early 1980s, when Ford was 15 and Kavanaugh was 17.
JULY 6 to JULY 8: Christine Ford tells 'beach friends' in California for the first time that she was assaulted by Kavanaugh and asks for advice on whether to go public.
JULY 9: President Donald Trump nominates Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. After the announcement, a staffer in Rep. Eshoo's office calls Ford to discuss her allegations against Kavanaugh.
JULY 10: Ford contacts the Washington Post for the second time, and gets a response. She starts having conversations with a reporter at the paper off the record via WhatsApp. The app is encrypted, meaning its contents cannot be access by a third party. To use it, Ford's phone number would be known to the Washington Post.
The "public" report did not appear until September:
Grim's story [ Ryan Grim isthe D.C. bureau chief for The Intercept ], which ran on Sept. 12, reported that Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee 'have privately requested to view a Brett Kavanaugh-related document' held by Feinstein. The story noted that Feinstein had rejected the requests.
Text from the DailyMail.
See https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6219515/New-questions-leaked-Christine-Fords-explosive-accusation-Brett-Kavanaugh.html
In an article titled Why Maryland police aren’t investigating the Kavanaugh allegations the Washington Post addresses the issue of the relevant statute of limitations which arose during the Senate proceeding on 27 September 2018.
The article confirms that, presently, there is no "statute of limitations" on attempted rape, now a felony:
The Maryland legislature changed the law in 1996, making attempted rape a felony and removing the statute of limitations, according to McCarthy and Jordan.
HOWEVER, the relevant law would be as it existed at the time of the crime, which was before 1996:
“But we’d have to apply the law as it existed at the time of the allegations,” McCarthy said.
(...)
As a misdemeanor, the offense carried a one-year statute of limitations, meaning charges would have had to be filed within a year of an incident, according to John McCarthy, Montgomery County’s longtime chief prosecutor. Lisae C. Jordan, the executive director and counsel for the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, and other longtime Maryland lawyers interviewed in recent days concurred.
A separate issue of interest was the matter of the leak, brought up by Senators Cruz and Cornyn. Senator Feinstein emphatically denied leaking, by herself or by her staff. A semantic issue may be the distinction between the actual letter itself compared to the factual contents of the letter. The DailyMail gave a bit of a timeline:
JULY 6: Christine Ford sends a letter to Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) alleging that she was sexually assaulted in high school by Brett Kavanaugh, a leading contender to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by Justice Anthony Kennedy. Ford also sends a text about the incident to the Washington Post. The assault allegedly took place in the early 1980s, when Ford was 15 and Kavanaugh was 17.
JULY 6 to JULY 8: Christine Ford tells 'beach friends' in California for the first time that she was assaulted by Kavanaugh and asks for advice on whether to go public.
JULY 9: President Donald Trump nominates Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. After the announcement, a staffer in Rep. Eshoo's office calls Ford to discuss her allegations against Kavanaugh.
JULY 10: Ford contacts the Washington Post for the second time, and gets a response. She starts having conversations with a reporter at the paper off the record via WhatsApp. The app is encrypted, meaning its contents cannot be access by a third party. To use it, Ford's phone number would be known to the Washington Post.
The "public" report did not appear until September:
Grim's story [ Ryan Grim isthe D.C. bureau chief for The Intercept ], which ran on Sept. 12, reported that Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee 'have privately requested to view a Brett Kavanaugh-related document' held by Feinstein. The story noted that Feinstein had rejected the requests.
Text from the DailyMail.
See https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6219515/New-questions-leaked-Christine-Fords-explosive-accusation-Brett-Kavanaugh.html
posted by Lawrence B. Ebert at 6:58 PM
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