Davis v. State

Dewey Davis was arrested in 2016 for a 1996 rape, sodomy, burglary, and assault based on a DNA match, but he was held in jail for years without ever being indicted. While awaiting indictment, he filed a plea in bar, a legal filing meant to permanently block a prosecution, arguing the statute of limitation had run out on the charges. The trial court agreed as to two charges but rejected the argument for the rape and sodomy charges, and the Court of Appeals of Georgia affirmed, saying a plea in bar cannot be filed before an indictment exists. The Supreme Court of Georgia agreed with the Court of Appeals. It explained that under Georgia law a prosecution only begins once an indictment or accusation is filed, so there is nothing yet for a plea in bar to defeat before that happens. The court left open whether other remedies, like habeas corpus, might address someone's lengthy pre-indictment detention, since Davis had not raised that separate issue below.

A plea in bar, including one based on the statute of limitation, cannot be filed until a prosecutor has commenced an action by filing an indictment or accusation, because before that filing there is no prosecution for the plea to defeat.

The ruling means people arrested and jailed before being formally indicted in Georgia cannot use a plea in bar to fight the charges on statute-of-limitation grounds while they wait, potentially leaving them without an immediate way to challenge long pre-indictment delays like the years Davis spent detained.

Affirmed

1. The court explained that a plea in bar is a common-law pleading device that challenges the validity of an indictment, often by confession and avoidance, meaning it admits the facts alleged but argues the defendant still cannot be held liable, such as when the statute of limitation has run.
2. Under Georgia's definition of when a prosecution begins (O.C.G.A. § 16-1-3(14)), a criminal case only commences once an indictment is returned or an accusation is filed, mirroring common-law pleading rules requiring a plaintiff's claim before a defendant can respond.
3. Applying that rule to Davis, because no indictment or accusation had been filed against him when he raised his statute of limitation argument, there was no pending prosecution yet for his plea in bar to defeat, making the filing premature.
4. The court noted that other tools, like preliminary hearings, motions for bond, or habeas corpus, might address a person's lengthy pre-indictment detention, but declined to rule on those since Davis had only filed a plea in bar and not a habeas petition.
5. Because Davis's case involved only the plea in bar ruling, the question of whether habeas relief could address his years-long detention without indictment was not before the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court of Georgia.

• plea in bar
• statute of limitation
• pre-indictment detention
• habeas corpus
• DNA cold case