FILED: March 8, 2000

STEVEN LONG,

Appellant,

v.

NICHOLAS ARMENAKIS,
Superintendent,
Oregon State Correctional Institution,

Respondent.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Marion County.

Paul Lipscomb, Judge.

Argued and submitted June 26, 1999.

Eric M. Cumfer argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellant.

Ann F. Kelley, Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent. With her on the brief were Hardy Myers, Attorney General, and Michael D. Reynolds, Solicitor General.

Before Linder, Presiding Judge, and Deits, Chief Judge,* and Brewer, Judge.

LINDER, P. J.

Affirmed.

*Deits, C. J., vice Warren, S. J.

Petitioner appeals a judgment dismissing his post-conviction petition on the ground that his claims were barred by the applicable 120-day statute of limitations. He contends that he was excused from filing a timely petition because his post-conviction claims could not reasonably have been raised within 120 days of his conviction. We agree with the trial court that the petition was untimely. We therefore affirm.

In July of 1992, petitioner was indicted on three counts of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct and five counts of sexual abuse in the first degree. Two of the sexual abuse counts were based on acts committed in 1976 and 1981. At those times, the relevant statute required the state to prosecute within three years. ORS 131.125(2) (1981). The state did not prosecute petitioner within that time. In 1991, the legislature extended the time period for prosecuting certain offenses, including first-degree sexual abuse, where the victim was under the age of 18 at the time of the crime's commission. Or Laws 1991, ch 388,