A Staten Island man charged last month with raping a woman 13 years ago is hoping to be set free on a technicality.
Lerio Guerrero, 32, is accused of raping a then-28-year-old woman in 1998 near her apartment on the Lower East Side, but he was only recently arrested.
His attorneys say the bust was invalid because the statute of limitations, which normally lasts five years, should never have been extended.
The clock should have stopped in 2003, because lawyers argue that cops didn’t do the “due diligence” required for an extension and didn’t have a suspect.
Guerrero’s attorneys said police would have caught him long before because they had DNA on him from a series of arrests that would have connected him to the rape.
Prosecutors stood by their case. Guerrero has pleaded not guilty and is being held on $50,000 bail.
'Democrats say this is a misuse of taxpayer funds' Nassau Republicans awarded over $1 million in taxpayer-funded legal contracts to the one-man law firm of Sheharyar Ali, a longtime GOP ally. Ali's father is an adviser to Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa and Newsday Nassau County politics reporter Bahar Ostadan have the story.
'Democrats say this is a misuse of taxpayer funds' Nassau Republicans awarded over $1 million in taxpayer-funded legal contracts to the one-man law firm of Sheharyar Ali, a longtime GOP ally. Ali's father is an adviser to Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. NewsdayTV's Ken Buffa and Newsday Nassau County politics reporter Bahar Ostadan have the story.
