MSC Reviewing Statute in Rape Case

Q2 reports that the Montana Supreme Court is reviewing whether charges against a man accused of raping a Billings girl in 1987 were filed outside the statute of limitations. The trial of 57-year-old Ronald Tipton was scheduled to begin in early December, but the case is on hold as the state’s high court weighs in.

Tipton was charged in 2015 with three counts of sexual intercourse without consent for the rape of an 8-year-old girl. The girl reportedly said that the perpetrator threatened to kill her if she didn’t keep quiet. The victim subsequently told her parents and they reported the attack to police.

Another man, Jimmy Rae Bromgard, was wrongly convicted of the crime in 1987, but he was ultimately exonerated in 2002 thanks to DNA evidence. Forensic analysts compared DNA samples in 2014 that matched Tipton.