In English common law, it was held that a death was conclusively presumed not to be murder (or any other homicide) if it occurred more than a year and one day since the act (or omission) that was alleged to have been its cause.
Application of the year and a day rule prevented murder prosecutions, not because of the merits of the case, but because of the successful intervention of doctors in prolonging life.
The abolition of the rule does not relieve the prosecution of its obligation to prove the mens rea element; in cases of murder, this is the accused intended to cause either death or serious injury.
[7] In 2014, the D.C. rule (as it existed in 1981) was one of the reasons given for why John Hinckley, the attempted assassin of President Ronald Reagan, could not be prosecuted for the murder of James S. Brady.
In the United States federal system, only sentences exceeding one year allow prisoners to obtain early release for good behaviour while incarcerated.