Bipartisan proposal seeks to end ‘year-and-a-day’ rule for murder victims

By: Sean White 

WASHINGTON, DC. (WSAW) - Thursday, Wisconsin Congressman Tom Tiffany was joined by Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson to introduce the Justice for Murder Victims Act.

Their bipartisan proposal seeks to eliminate the 13th-century “year-and-a-day” rule, which prohibits homicide prosecutions if the victim died more than a year and a day from the date of the defendant’s assault.

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley and Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff introduced the Senate companion of this legislation. “Archaic rules that allow murderers to evade punishment due to the power of modern medicine serve as a disgrace to murder victims and their loved ones,” says Congressman Tiffany. “Justice for a murder victim should not be negatively determined by an arbitrary period of time, and this bipartisan proposal will hold murderers accountable while bringing justice to victims.”

“No victim should be denied justice simply because modern medicine helped them survive their attack for an arbitrary period of time. Our bill will fix this archaic rule and ensure murderers are brought to justice and families get the closure they deserve,” Senator Grassley says.

Many states have already abolished the rule, recognizing that modern medicine has helped more victims live more than a “year-and-a-day” past their assault. This bipartisan proposal would amend the rule to ensure that there is no maximum prosecutorial time period between the assault and death of the victim, ensuring murder victims are not denied justice in the federal system due to an outdated rule.

Read the article here.