>Arrest warrants can “go stale” due to the passage of time and changing circumstances, and one from 1955 almost certainly wouldn’t pass muster before a court, even if a sheriff agreed to serve it, said Ronald J. Rychlak, a law professor at the University of Mississippi.
>But combined with any new evidence, the original arrest warrant “absolutely” could be an important stepping stone toward establishing probable cause for a new prosecution, he said.
According to the article, the warrant says kidnapping, a crime for which there is no statute of limitations. However, the district attorney for the case would have to show probable cause to enforce the arrest warrant. There's little chance of establishing that absent rediscovery of evidence or the existence of new witnesses from a crime that occurred nearly 70 years ago. There's also the issue of their being only one living witness relevant to the ordeal. And she is unlikely to say anything even if she were to possess a steel trap of a memory.
>Arrest warrants can “go stale” due to the passage of time and changing circumstances, and one from 1955 almost certainly wouldn’t pass muster before a court, even if a sheriff agreed to serve it, said Ronald J. Rychlak, a law professor at the University of Mississippi.
>But combined with any new evidence, the original arrest warrant “absolutely” could be an important stepping stone toward establishing probable cause for a new prosecution, he said.