Citing the long delay in bringing criminal charges, a South Carolina judge dismissed murder counts that were filed earlier this year against a father and stepmother accused of killing the father's 5-year-old son in 1989.
The judge wrote that the 35-year delay had caused substantial actual prejudice to both defendants, infringing upon their right to a fair trial.
More than 20 witnesses who could have testified in 1989 were no longer able to do so because they were either dead or in poor health.
Investigators believed in 1989 that Ms. Turner had strangled Justin with a dog leash that was recovered in the kitchen of the family's home, Judge Young wrote.
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