Supreme Court hears child rape case

SANTA FE (KRQE) - The state is one step closer to learning if one child rape case could open the door for investigators to look into thousands of other felony cold cases.

A case against Nicholas Morales was heard in front of the Supreme Court Wednesday.

He's accused of raping his niece Tanya for years while she was a little girl.

"He thought he got away with it for so many years" she said.
As an adult, Tanya came forward. In 2005, prosecutors charged Morales with rape, more than 20 years after the alleged crime.

However, there used to be a 15-year statute of limitations on first-degree felonies, like rape and murder. That means prosecutors only had 15 years to charge a suspect.

The State Court of Appeals ruled that police and prosecutors hadn't charged Morales in time.

Prosecutors argue that when the State Legislature got rid of the statute of limitations in 1997, murders and rapes going back to 1982 could be prosecuted because the 15 years hadn't passed yet.

Now, the State Supreme Court has to decide if the legislature intended for the new law to be retroactive.

"That is not meant to say the courts should, without analysis, just decide things in favor of the defendant. The public has an interest here and the victim has an interest here" Assistant Attorney General Anita Carlson said in court.

Susan Roth, the Assistant Appellate Defender argued the high court should take another side.

"When there's ambiguity and I submit there's ambiguity here, you have to rule in the favor of the defendant," she said.

Depending on the outcome of the Morales case, detectives could pursue thousands of felony cold cases around the state.

Albuquerque police said they're waiting on the decision to see if they can charge suspects in a 1985 murder, a 1988 child rape and two more cases against the Ether Man.

Once the Supreme Court rules, which is expected in a couple of months, detectives will either charge suspects in their cases or be forced to let them get away with their crimes.