According to reports, the Supreme Court ruled 8-0 that there is no statute of limitations regarding military rape prosecutions and convictions between 1986 and 2006. The ruling overturned the five-year statute of limitations loophole used by the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in the landmark 2018 case where Lt. Col. Michael Briggs was convicted for the 2005 rape of a female serviceperson.
As a result of the Appeals court applying the statute of limitations to Briggs's case, his conviction was dismissed in addition to two other airmen, Lt. Col. Humphrey Daniels, who raped a woman in 1998, and Master Sgt. Richard Collins, who in 2000 raped an airman.
“Today's opinion was a huge win for military rape survivors,” said retired Air Force Col. Don Christensen, president of the advocacy group for victims of sexual assault in the military, Protect Our Defenders. “The unanimous nature of this opinion is a testament of just how wrong the lower court's opinion was. Justice has been restored for three survivors, and hope has been restored for countless others.”