Court Opinion

ID: 9843840
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 02:43:50.659106+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:15:14.554914
License: Public Domain

KAPSNER, Justice,
concurring.
[¶7] It has not gone unnoticed that N.D.C.C. § 12.1-04-01 provides: “The prosecution of any person as an adult is barred if the offense was committed while the person was less than fourteen years of age.” The State has charged acts occurring for 10 years during M.B.’s minority, starting at age 8. Further, the specific charge to which M.B. pled conditionally guilty is continuous abuse of a child under N.D.C.C. § 12.1-20-03.1(1), which provides:
An individual in adult court is guilty of a class A felony if the individual engages in any combination of three or more sexual acts or sexual contacts with a minor under the age of fifteen years during a period of three or more months.
M.B.’s activity continued from age 8 to 18, while the age of his alleged victim went from 5 to 15 years. One questions whether the legislature intended to reach the activities between very young children even when that pattern continues into teenage years by enacting a statute that criminalizes “[c]ontinuous sexual abuse of a child.” N.D.C.C. § 12.1-20-03.1.
[¶ 8] However, M.B.’s acts over the age of fourteen fit into the literal language of N.D.C.C. § 12.1-20-03.1(1), at the time the charges were brought. M.B. raises no issues of delay and has entered his guilty plea.
[¶ 9] CAROL RONNING KAPSNER