Trickle Bill signed by Guinn

Thursday, March 11, 1999 | 11:13 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn Wednesday signed the Chris Trickle Bill, which allows an unlimited time to file murder and manslaughter charges when a victim dies more than a year after the crime.

The law becomes effective immediately and replaces the former law, which said if the victim did not die within one year and a day after the attack, a murder or manslaughter complaint could not be brought.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said she sponsored Senate Bill 11 in memory of Chris Trickle, a young Las Vegas race driver who was shot in the head Feb. 9, 1997. He died 13 months later. The crime remains unsolved.

No one can be charged now in the Trickle death because the new law applies only from the day of signing.

The old law dated back to common law rule when doctors could not say for certain the cause of death when a person was injured and did not die for more than a year. But modern medicine is able to pinpoint the cause of death, no matter how long the victim suffers before death, Titus said.

archive