The statute of limitations argument isn't an argument stemming from guilt, it is merely an issue which may block the lawsuit before anything else is even presen

The statute of limitations argument isn't an argument stemming from guilt, it is merely an issue which may block the lawsuit before anything else is even presented to the courts. The mom isn't saying "Yeah he stole them, but the statute of limitations has expired". She is saying "This lawsuit doesn't even have standing because the statute of limitations has expired". If someone sued you for property stolen 50 years before you were even born, you would still argue the statute of limitations has expired before even getting to the physical impossibility of the act.