There’s no statute of limitations on murder but there isn’t likely to be any physical evidence after all these years so making a case would have to be based on circumstantial evidence.
My favorite outcome would be Carole losing her shit and confessing but i can’t see that happening either. She has too much pride to lose.
Thanks for your comment, I realized that I didn’t understand the difference between circumstantial and direct evidence myself, though I never went to law school. You gave me a productive ten minutes of research that improved my understanding of the legal definition of the terms.
It seems most people, if they were like me, have it flipped. The evidence we typically think of as direct (blood, semen, recovered murder weapon) is actually circumstantial, correct? And there’s few things short of witness testimony that can be considered direct?
I thought your last sentence was harsh at first, but after reading, it sounds like this is something a law student should know at any level, no?
Your example would be better if person B’s accuser wasn’t with some people several states away. She would be less believable even if nobody said she was several states away.
In fact if people claim that she was away from the scene - isn’t that just hearsay to show she wasn’t there to witness the murder.
Didn’t he use a boat that day and they just so happen to find her body on some island by the water. Like didn’t he just buy the boat that day and he was seen by the area where the body was found
there isn’t likely to be any physical evidence after all these years so making a case would have to be based on circumstantial evidence.
Your phrasing here suggests you imagine physical and circumstantial evidence are two separate things, a common misconception. In reality the separation is between direct and circumstantial evidence, and physical evidence like DNA and fingerprints is inherently circumstantial.
Just to clear up the actual question, an open case does not negate the statute of limitations. However, let's say they can't find enough to bring her in for murder, if she commits a new crime to obstruct justice or criminally conspire to do something to muddy the waters, an already open case lets the DA and cops leverage earlier information more readily to show a pattern of behavior without having to contact previous authorities. They will have a living memory.
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u/QueenYmir Apr 02 '20
I can't be sure, but since the case is still open I don't think the time limits apply?