Strong

Robert Dustin Strong and David Michael Knick seek a writ of prohibition to overturn the trial court’s denial of their motion to dismiss on ex post facto grounds (U.S. Const., art. I, § 10; Cal. Const., art. I, § 9) murder charges filed when their victim, former Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Ira Essoe, died 29 years after they assaulted and paralyzed him.

The narrow issue for our consideration in this unusual case is whether the Legislature intended to preclude with the following language murder charges when the victim of an assault dies more than three years and a day later: “To make the killing either murder or manslaughter, it is requisite that the party die within three years and a day after the stroke received or the cause of death administered.” (Pen. Code, former § 194, as amended by Stats. 1969, ch. 593, § 1, 1225, eff. Nov. 1969, subsequently amended eff. Jan. 1, 1997 (hereafter section 194 or section 194 (Nov. 1969)).)

We find nothing ambiguous in this language, which plainly establishes a time-based “immunity” (People v. Snipe (1972) 25 Cal.App.3d 742, 747 [ 102 Cal.Rptr. 6 ] (Snipe)) to particular charges, and is therefore indistinguishable in operation and…