Court Strikes Down Law on Old Sex Crimes

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the government cannot retroactively erase statutes of limitations, a defeat for prosecutors trying to pursue priests accused of long-ago sex abuse.

On a 5-4 vote, the justices struck down a California law that allowed prosecutions for old sex crimes. It was challenged by a 72-year-old man accused of molesting his daughters when they were children.

The case was closely watched because of sex abuse problems in the Roman Catholic church, but it also has implications for terrorism and other crimes.

Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the court, said the Constitution bars states from revising already expired legal deadlines.

Marion Stogner is among hundreds of people convicted under a 1994 California law that changed the statute of limitations for some sex offenses. Earlier this week, two former Catholic priests were charged with molesting children when they were assigned to the Los Angeles archdiocese decades ago.

Critics argue that it’s unfair to change the rules after witnesses are dead and evidence lost. Supporters of deadline changes, including the American Psychological Association, contend that child molesters aren’t usually exposed until after statutes of limitations have run out.

Statutes of limitations vary by state and by crime, in some instances as short as one year for minor wrongdoing to no limit for murder.

Some states have extended their deadlines for filing charges in sex crimes, but California took the exceptional step of retroactively changing the time limit. Charges must be filed within one year after the victims file a police report.

“We believe that this retroactive application of a later-enacted law in unfair,” Breyer wrote.

Stogner, a retired paper plant worker and veteran of the Korean War, was prosecuted in 2001 for molestation that began almost 50 years ago. Police were told of the allegations while investigating molestation claims against his sons. His daughters said that he began molesting them when they were under age five and the abuse went on for years. One daughter said she became pregnant when she was 16, at a time she was being molested by her dad and brother.

The case gave the court its first opportunity to say whether states can retroactively nullify criminal statutes of limitations.