Is my case too old to be prosecuted?

In California, there are 2 separate areas of the law that influence whether a case is too old to prosecute. The easiest issue is when a case can no longer legally be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations. That means, from the date the offense was committed, the prosecution has a set time to get your case filed in the courthouse. For misdemeanors, like most DUI's, petty thefts, minor assaults, minor domestic violence's, or disturbing the peace, that time is one year. For many felonies, the statute of limitations is 3 years.

There are many exceptions to that rule. These exceptions often involve fraud, where a victim does not know they have been defrauded for some time, other crimes involving official conduct, crimes punishable by life imprisonment, many sex crimes, and murder, which has no statute of limitations and can be prosecuted any time.

For sex crimes, some of them have a 3 year statute of limitations. Some misdemeanor sex crimes have a one year statute of limitations. Other sex crimes have a ten year statute of limitations, that was once a six year statute of limitations. That becomes very complicated because if the crime occurred within 10 years but during the time period when the statute of limitations was 6 years for the same conduct, then the constitutional assurance against “ex post facto” laws requires that the shorter time period be used.

If a sex crime is committed against a child, the crime can be reported after the child has become an adult. This does not mean it must be reported at age 18. If a person was molested as a child and tells a therapist, for example, about the incident when he/she is 25, the therapist has a duty to tell the police about it. If the police obtain independent corroboration by someone other than the victim, and if the incident involved what the law calls “substantial” sexual conduct, the case can still be filed, if it is within one year of the date it was reported. Because statute of limitations questions can be so complex, never assume that something simply must be too old. You need an attorney, and the attorney will likely need to check the Code. If the case is beyond the statute of limitations, the case can never be brought in court.

Separate from the statute of limitations issue are the right to a speedy trial and due process of law. This area is even more complicated than statutes of limitations. This is where a case has been filed against someone, but they don’t know it because they are never arrested or given a citation. For example, a couple has an argument and one of them calls the police after the other person has become angry and walked out. If police do not contact the person who walked away, that person may never know a police report began making its way through the system. If the district attorney files charges based upon what the complaining party says, or injuries the complaining party says the other person caused, then usually a warrant gets sent to the address the police have—usually the address where the angry person has walked out. That person could go months or years without knowing there is a warrant out for him/her. Depending on the length of time that has passed, and whether or not any efforts were made to contact the missing party, that person may well be able to get the case dismissed as a violation of their due process rights.

On the other hand, if a person missed a court date after actually receiving notice of that date, it is much more difficult to complain a few months later that the DA sat on the case too long. Generally speaking, if a case is years old, and witnesses are now all gone, a speedy trial motion may be able to be brought. If it is successful, the case must be dismissed. This is ALWAYS worth pursuing when the case is old. You need to talk to an attorney.