James Randall v. Philadelphia Law Department

BIBAS, Circuit Judge.

When a defendant commits a continuing violation of the law, the limitations period starts running from the defendant's last act, not from when the effects of that violation end. Here, the defendants arrested and prosecuted James Randall in Philadelphia for drug and weapons crimes. As a result of that prosecution, New Jersey and Delaware County, Pennsylvania, lodged detainers against Randall for violating his probation. So he remained in those jurisdictions' custody until December 2015. But the defendants' last act was in August 2015, when they dropped the charges and sent…