Question: Can Concealing A Crime Extend The Time That The State of Indiana Has To File Criminal Charges?
Answer: Yes, If There Was A Positive Act By The Defendant To Conceal His Criminal Activity.
Over the course of 1.5 years, 4 separate bank robberies occurred in Boone County Indiana. The first robbery occurred on March 21, 2006. The next 2 robberies occurred on April 16, 2007 and July 19, 2007. The final robbery occurred on September 19, 2007. Each of the robberies appeared to be connected. In each, the perpetrator was dressed exactly the same, was armed with a similarly described weapon, and demanded the money be handed over in the same fashion. Through police investigation, a vehicle associated with one of the robberies was seen on property owned by John Study. A search warrant was executed, and the police continued to find evidence linking the robberies. On October 29, 2007, Study was first felony robbery. On September 17, 2012, counsel for Study filed a Motion to Dismiss Count XI on the grounds that it was barred by the statute of limitations. A hearing was held, and Study argued that the State’s charging information did not demonstrate on its face why the charge was not barred by the 5 year statute of limitations. The trial court granted Study’s motion to dismiss Count XI as it was originally charged, but later granted the State leave to file an amended charging information. The amended charge for Count XI indicated that Study had concealed evidence of the charged offense, which constitutes an exception to Indiana’s statute of limitations. Under the concealment-tolling provision, the State argued the statute of limitations was tolled until November 21, 2007 when Study was appended, which would allow the State until November 21, 2012 to bring the charge against him. At trial, the jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts, except Count IX, pointing a firearm.
On appeal, the Indiana Supreme Court noted that Indiana statutory law provides that prosecution for a Class B felony is barred unless it is commenced: (1) within five (5) years after the commission of the offense. However, limited exceptions are recognized. At issue here is the concealment-tolling provision, which provides that the period within which a prosecution must be commenced does not include any period in which: … (2) the accused person conceals evidence of the offense, and evidence sufficient to charge the person with that offense is unknown to the prosecuting authority and could not have been discovered by that authority by exercise of due diligence …
In this case, there was no dispute that the police were aware that the bank robbery on March 21, 2006 had occurred. The police immediately began investigating and even discovered the connections between the March 21, 2006 robbery and subsequent robberies for which Study was eventually charged. Thus, even Study’s attempts to conceal his guilt were not thwarting the progress of the police investigation. The application of the concealment-tolling provision under the Indiana Code requires a positive act by the defendant that is calculated to conceal the fact that a crime has been committed. Study did not engage in any positive act calculated to conceal the fact that a robbery occurred on March 21, 2006. Therefore, the statute of limitations as to that offense was not tolled, and that charge should have been dismissed. 24 N.E.3d 947