Another North Carolina man’s fate is turning on the complex application of the state’s changing laws.
The situation arises from an assault for which the man was convicted approximately 22 years ago. Unfortunately, the victim’s death many years later was related to the assault. Current North Carolina law places no time limit on when a person who committed an assault can be indicted for murder if the assaulted person dies due to the injuries. This law went into effect, however, six months after the assault in question.
The defendant was arrested on a Tuesday and the first-degree murder charge was dropped the following Thursday, because the old law — which would only make a murder charge possible if the victim had died within one year and one day of the assault — applied to this case.
Source: FOX Carolina, “Murder charge dropped against man who assaulted woman 22 years ago,” Joseph Pereira, Aug. 1, 2013