Court Opinion

ID: 9932019
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-09 18:32:07.448831+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:43:19.719677
License: Public Domain

This Court is for the first time declaring that in criminal cases the statute of limitations is jurisdictional and that an indictment returned after the expiration of the limitations period for the offense charged in the indictment is void. As shown in the majority opinion, the Court of Criminal Appeals has taken this position for at least the past 13 years, even though that court recognized that "Alabama law [was] not entirely clear on the question whether a court presiding over a prosecution barred by the statute of limitations is without `jurisdiction.'" Cox v. State,585 So.2d 182, 193 (Ala.Crim.App. 1991).