Court Opinion

ID: 9625244
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:33:09.380851+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:04.247817
License: Public Domain

*485Bell, Chief Judge,
dissenting.
The defendant in this criminal case filed a plea in bar asserting that all the misdemeanor counts of the indictment were barred by the two-year statute of limitation. The trial court, after a pre-trial evidentiary hearing, sustained the motion which had the effect of dismissing 30 counts of the indictment.
The statute of limitation in a criminal case is tolled during the period of time that either the offense or offender is unknown to the state. Code § 26-503 (b). The state alleged in the counts affected by the plea in bar that the offense and offender were not known until December 16,1976. The indictment was returned on April 1,1977. If this allegation is properly established then the prosecution was not barred. The time within which a criminal prosecution must be instituted is one of the essential elements of the crime and is a fact which must be proved by the state to the satisfaction of a jury beyond reasonable doubt. Taylor v. State, 44 Ga. App. 64, 74 (160 SE 667) and Decker v. State, 139 Ga. App. 707 (229 SE2d 520). There is no authority for a trial judge to determine this factual issue in a criminal case where a jury trial has not been waived. The trial judge here erred in determining this issue of fact without the intervention of a jury.
This judgment should be reversed.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Deen joins in this dissent.