BEN HILL COUNTY, Ga. — Defense attorneys are trying to dismiss new charges filed against Ryan Duke in Ben Hill County.
A grand jury indicted Duke in Ben Hill earlier this month for concealing the death of Ocilla school teacher Tara Grinstead among other charges.
The indictment came less than two weeks after an Irwin County jury acquitted Ryan Duke on the murder of Tara Grinstead in neighboring Irwin County.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for concealing her death.
This week, Ryan Duke’s defense attorneys filed what’s known as a "plea in bar," citing statute of limitation. They’re essentially arguing that District Attorney Brad Rigby “missed” his deadline to prosecute duke in Ben Hill County.
With all charges Ryan Duke faces in Ben Hill County, there’s a statute of limitation of four years. This means the District Attorney can prosecute Duke four years from the time authorities had knowledge or reason to believe that a person committed a crime.
This is where there’s a debate between the prosecution and the defense.
DA Rigby argues the clock starts ticking on this four year limit, beginning February 19, 2017, when authorities got a tip about Ryan Duke. Duke confessed to GBI agents that he murdered Tara Grinstead on February 22, 2017.
Mercer Law professor David Oedel says typically that would have already expired. "But because we have a 473-day tolling period because of COVID, it makes it possible to make if the proper date to understand the problem was 2017," Oedel said.
However, Duke’s attorney say the clock should have started back in 2005.
According to the plea, they say authorities first got a tip about Duke on November 7, 2005, days after Grinstead went missing. Duke’s defense attorneys claim the report identified Ryan Duke and Bo Dukes and stated Tara Grinstead had been killed, and her body burned in a pecan orchard. The plea claims authorities checked a small section of the orchard but found nothing.
"At 2005, they may have not had enough evidence to charge. That’s a question of fact," Oedel said.
Oedel says the debate really comes down to this--
"When did they have reason to know about the concealment and all these other things. The question is does it relate to 2005 when they first had these guys names in the hopper... or was it 2017 when they came to realize... these are the guys," Oedel said.
Duke’s defense says authorities received more tips about Ryan in 2007, 2008, and 2016. During the murder trial last month, former GBI Agent-in-Charge Gary Rothwell says it was his fault the bureau did not follow up on tips about Ryan Duke.