What is the Statute of Limitations on My Crime?

In the legal world, the statute of limitations is a period of time after an alleged crime or incident in which prosecution or a legal suit may be initiated against you. This can be thought of as a deadline or cut-off date for someone to sue or prosecute you after an incident. Without a statute of limitations, you could be blind-sided by a sudden, unexpected lawsuit or prosecution for an incident that occurred ages ago.

The law recognizes that people need to be protected from such surprise litigation because over time, evidence can disappear, memories fade, witnesses become unavailable, crime scenes change, or a number of other things that would unduly make it difficult to build a defense.

The California law that governs how long a prosecuting attorney has to initiate prosecution is contained in Penal Code 799-805. The general provisions hold that:

• Any offense that is punishable by death (i.e. murder) or a life sentence in state prison has no statute of limitation.Prosecution can begin at any time

• Any offense that involves embezzling public funds (i.e. unemployment insurance fraud) also has no statute of limitations.

• If a felony crime is punishable by eight years or more in state prison, the statute of limitations is six years after the offense is committed.

• If a felony crime is punishable by less than eight years in state prison, the statute of limitations is three years after the offense is committed.

• A misdemeanor crime which is not punishable by death or state prison has a statute of limitations of one year after the offense is committed.