Beasley v. State

Ruffin, Judge.

The statute of limitation for the offense of burglary is four years from the date of the commission of the crime. Under OCGA § 17-3-2 (2), however, the statute is tolled during any period in which the “person committing the crime is unknown.” In this appeal, we must decide whether the State “knows” who has committed a crime simply because it lifts a fingerprint from the crime scene, even though the fingerprint is not matched to the defendant until several years later. Because the statute requires actual, as opposed to constructive, knowledge, we hold that the State is not…