Commonwealth v. Garden

The defendant, Tyrone Garden, was accused of raping a woman on September 18, 1991, and the Commonwealth obtained a complaint in District Court charging the defendant with aggravated rape, G. L. c. 265, § 22(a ), on September 11, 2006. However, the indictment did not issue until April 19, 2007-seven months after the applicable limitation period had expired. See G. L. c. 277, § 63.

Prior to trial, the defendant unsuccessfully moved to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that the issuance of a complaint did not toll the limitations period. The defendant's subsequent request to proceed by way of…