Year-and-a-Day Rule Meets Its Demise
Lawyers who learned about the year-and-a-day rule in law school have a new case to ponder: the prosecution of William J. Barnes, who served 20 years in prison for shooting and paralyzing a Philadelphia police officer in 1996.
The officer died last month after suffering a kidney infection, spurring prosecutors to charge Barnes with murder for the same shooting. Since his initial injury the officer has been in two car accidents and contracted hepatitis, raising questions about causation, the New York Times reports.
The common law year-and-a-day rule barred new charges if a victim died more than 366 days after the initial injury, the Times says. But at least 20 states, including Pennsylvania, have abolished the rule as medical advances made it easier keep victims alive.
The rule failed to foil prosecutors in a Michigan case. A gunman convicted for assault with intent to murder was charged with murder after the victim died four years later. An autopsy helped prove that the death was due to the initial gunshot wound.
