Monday, May 07, 2007

New published ACCA decision in Article 62 appeal

United States v. Lopez de Victoria, __ M.J. ___, No. ARMY MISC 20061248 (A. Ct. Crim. App. May 7, 2007).

ACCA rules for the government in this Article 62 appeal. ACCA holds that "the November 2003 Congressional Amendment . . . to Article 43, UCMJ . . . extending the statute of limitations from five years to the child victim’s twenty-fifth birthday applies retroactively to offenses committed before Congress enacted the 2003 Amendment, so long as the previous limitations period has not already expired."
Posted by Dwight Sullivan at 7:00 PM

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How convincing is the ACCA's argument regarding the retroactive application of the amended statute of limitations, in the absence of express legislative intent? In these matters, shouldn't the tie go to the challenger? (Does the government bear the burden, or is a statute of limitations not truly "jurisdictional"?).

SD

Tue May 08, 01:27:00 PM EDT
Anonymous said...

The word "extension" has legal effect. Congress didn't "change" the statute, but instead called it an "extension". Thus, one should conclude that Congress meant to make the statute of limitations run longer.

Couple this with the Congress' continuous expansion of the SOL and Senator Nelson's comments. Sen. Nelson is the only one who has comments on the record before it was passed.

Wed May 09, 09:01:00 PM EDT

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