Generally, statutes of limitations dictate the outside time-frame within which a crime can be prosecuted. Each state has its own rules but, for the most part, the window of prosecutorial opportunity is shorter for petty crimes than for felonies. (In New York the misdemeanor window is generally three years; the felony window is five.) The most serious crimes, like murder and rape, have different rules. Murder has no statute of limitations, while rape is often tied to the time of the initial outcry, the date the complainant first reported the offense. (In many cases, especially with children, this doesn’t happen until years later.)
The longer the period between the date of the offense and the commencement of a prosecution, the more difficult it is for the accused to defend himself, especially if the defense is alibi. Many of us can’t remember where we were last month, to say nothing of eight years ago.
In prosecuting crime long after its date of commission, another issue is determining what is fair punishment. One thing judges always look at in fixing a sentence is whether a person has been rehabilitated, has contributed in any way to his community — has, in short, turned over a new leaf. They also pay attention to the positions of both the victim(s) and the defendant’s family. But what if those people are one and the same?
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Consider the fascinating case of Alexis Manigo and Gloria Williams. Williams stands accused of kidnapping Manigo (nee Kamiyah Mobley) at birth. Police believe that in 1998, Williams posed as a health-care worker at a medical center, approached a 16-year-old mother carrying a newborn, and walked out of the center with that same baby. The disappearance of the child was immediately reported to police but only recently did detectives follow a trail from Jacksonville, Florida to a rural South Carolina town some 200 miles away, to find the missing child, now 18 years old, living with the only woman she’s ever known as her mother — Gloria Williams. Williams was arrested, charged with kidnapping, and put in jail without bail, leaving Manigo to sort through the complicated emotional aftermath of losing the woman she believed to be her mother.
One of the next shocks was meeting her biological parents. The reunited family went to a mall together and while Manigo described an instantaneous feeling of trust, she added, “They don’t feel like stranger-strangers. They feel like distant family,” according to the New York Times.
That makes sense. While the parents and daughter share DNA, they don’t share a common history.. Williams, apparently, brought her up well, cared for her when she was sick, went to teacher-parent meetings — in short, acted as a mother should.
Police came upon Manigo through a series of leads that took 18 years to follow. They ultimately secured a court order to test Manigo’s DNA to match with that of her parents. Police view the test results as proof positive that Manigo was not Williams’s child, but the baby who was kidnapped.
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Gloria Williams may have a defense. Perhaps she wasn’t the woman who took the baby (although the drawing of the kidnapper and Williams look very similar). Perhaps the baby was delivered to her by another intermediary who appeared to be legitimate. The evidence (whatever exists) is old and memories fade, if there were any eyewitnesses. Significantly the victim of the crime, Alexis Manigo, is pleading that the court and prosecution show the kidnapper mercy.
So how is justice served? Kidnapping a newborn is about as heinous a crime as can be imagined. On the other hand, decades have passed and Manigo was brought up well — unharmed, happy. To punish the woman she knows as her mother would only bring her more pain and suffering.
The biological parents sued the medical center and received a substantial amount in compensation for their loss. They, too, have moved on with their lives.
Yet if Williams is guilty, punishment is appropriate. Perhaps in this very particular case, the biological parents of Manigo will speak with a Solomonic sense of wisdom. Instead of calling for a lengthy sentence that might separate their daughter forever from the woman she knows as her mother, they might help influence the court to consider what’s best for the child, which may ultimately be best for them, too.
Snatched From Her Birth Mother 18 Years [New York Times]
Toni Messina has been practicing criminal defense law since 1990, although during law school she spent one summer as an intern in a large Boston law firm and realized quickly it wasn’t for her. Prior to attending law school, she worked as a journalist from Rome, Italy, reporting stories of international interest for CBS News and NPR. She keeps sane by balancing her law practice with a family of three children, playing in a BossaNova band, and dancing flamenco. She can be reached by email at [email protected] or tonimessinalaw.com, and you can also follow her on Twitter: @tonitamess.