D.A.: 1992 Rape Charges Against NY Man Expired, Dropped
PITTSBURGH (KDKA/AP) - The Allegheny County district attorney has dropped charges that a New York man raped two Pittsburgh women in 1992 because the statute of limitations has expired.
Arthur Fryar, 62, of Brooklyn, was arrested in September 2013 after Pittsburgh police say a DNA sample he submitted to a national database after an unrelated New York arrest linked him to the Shadyside attacks.
Back in January, one of the victims took the stand during a hearing. She recounted what happened to her back in 1992, recalling his threat to kill her.
"He wanted to do things to me; he wanted me to do things to him. I went along with him because I didn't want to die," she testified.
Fryar's public defender challenged the charges because the statute of limitations was just five years when the rapes occurred.
"The Pennsylvania legislature has extended the statute of limitations on crimes in three specific areas, one of them being sex crimes," defense attorney Jeffrey Weinberg said at the hearing back in January. "But no court has ruled on this stature since it's been amended. So, there's some questions as to what identification means in 1992 and what it might mean now."
The Legislature changed the statute of limitations for rape to 12 years in 2002, but did not make it retroactive.
The new statute also included an exception that gives prosecutors up to a year to file charges if DNA links someone to a rape after the 12-year limit - but the exception isn't retroactive either.
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