NJ Man's Sex Assault Conviction Tossed After Delays In DNA Testing

NEW JERSEY — The Supreme Court of New Jersey overturned a man's sexual assault conviction Thursday because the statute of limitations ran out before the state filed charges. Investigators collected DNA evidence from the 2001 crime scene and from Bradley Thompson in 2004 but never got a conclusive match until 2016 because the FBI updated its DNA-testing guidance.

The court didn't exonerate Thompson, who was convicted in 2018 of criminal sexual contact and criminal trespass in Camden County. Thompson raped a neighbor when he burglarized her Lindenwold home, prosecutors contended when in 2017, when he was charged.

But in a 5-0 ruling, the state's high court held that the five-year statute of limitations should have begun in 2010, when the FBI testing standards changed and the state lab could've generated a match.

The state argued that the statute of limitations should've started in 2016, when New Jersey updated its policy to reflect the new FBI guidance and could've generated a match. Two lower courts agreed. But the state Supreme Court ruled that under New Jersey law, the statute of limitations for the case began in 2010 — when state authorities had the opportunity to match the DNA samples.

If lawmakers meant for the statute of limitations to begin when a match was achieved, that would've been written into law, the court ruled.

The attorney who submitted a brief to the court in support of Thompson called the ruling "a win for fundamental fairness."

"All the court did in this case was apply the plain text of the statute," C.J. Griffin told the Associated Press, "which makes it clear the statute of limitations begins to run when the state has the evidence necessary to make the DNA match."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.