Thanks to confounded for the alert that the 5th Circuit has agreed to rehear arguments en banc in the James Ford Seale case, probably in May. Seale was convicted and given three life sentences last year for kidnapping and conspiracy in the May 2, 1964, deaths of Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore. As Jerry Mitchell’s story recounts:
On Sept. 9, [a three-judge] panel threw out the conviction of Seale, 73, ruling that the statute of limitations for kidnapping had expired.
While the enforcement of such statutes “in some cases deprives society of its ability to prosecute criminal offenses, that is the price we pay for repose,” Judge Harold DeMoss Jr. wrote in a unanimous decision.
Defense attorneys moved immediately for Seale’s release, saying he has cancer, kidney problems and other physical ailments. But the Justice Department challenged the request, saying Seale poses a flight risk.
At the time of the crime, there was no statute of limitations on kidnapping, and there is no statute of limitations on kidnapping today. But in 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court revised the law to eliminate the death penalty as punishment for kidnapping.
The panel in September concluded the statute fell under the 5-year statute of limitations for noncapital offenses and should be applied to all past offenses.
In their appeal, Justice Department prosecutors argued the 1972 amendment made a substantive change to the federal kidnapping statute, thereby making it impossible to apply the statute retroactively, minus a clear direction otherwise from Congress.
We’ve previously discussed the case here and here.
