Legal Question in Criminal Law in New Jersey
Incest
I had intercourse with my younger sister about 26
years ago.Iam not sure what age I was exactly, but it
is possible that I was 17 years old..She is 5 years
younger than I which would have made her11 or 12 at
the time.I don't recall the exact circumstances
because I was using drugs during that period of my
life.
She has recently threatened to charge me with
rape.This threat came as a result of the fact that she
defraauded my wife of $15,000.00.She has threatened to
charge me with rape if I don't leave her alone(ie.not
persue the fraud )We had a good relationship until the
loan.I'm wondering what will happen if she
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Incest
There is no simple answer to this question. You must first determine exactly what age your sister was. You must also try to remember when this occured. According to the current law you can be prosecuted at any time for a crime of sexual assault if the victim was under the age of 13. The statue of limitation was changed to allow proesecution at any time in the 80's. Remembering your time table of events is very important.
This is not a simple question to answer and does require some research.
Best regards,
Savy Grant
Incest
Dates could be quite important in your situation. At present, there is no statute of limitations in New Jersey for sexual assault. There formerly was a statute of limitations, however. Your possible exposure to prosecution, therefore, becomes a matter of whether or not the statute of limitations had already passed at the time the law was changed.
The question of whether or not the statute had already passed by the time the law had changed must be carefully analyzed. The statute itself had a particular time period, but that time period would not have run during times when your sister was a minor, as well as, possibly, other times.
The bottom line is, the question needs more research. You need to figure out exactly when these events occurred. You need to review this in light of your sister's exact birthday. Then you need to analyze all of this information in terms of the exact date that the law changed.
There are no short cuts in analyzing the legal issues your question presents.