Most of the time a person is arrested very shortly after they commit a crime. That person is charged with a crime, they hire a lawyer and begin defending their case. In some cases, the justice system doesn’t work so quickly. There are many reasons that a person wouldn’t get charged as described above. Law enforcement may not discover that the crime has been committed; some evidence of the crime may be missing or waiting to come back from a criminalistics lab; the district attorney’s office may not be able to process the paperwork quickly enough. In short, sometimes a person that has committed a crime or was accused of committing a crime may find themselves asking, “How long do they have to charge me with a crime?” A person asking that question generally falls into one of three categories.
To answer this question, you need to look at the law and know in general what crime you may be charged with. For most crimes, the state loses the power to charge you with a crime 5 years after the crime is committed. Like most other facets of the law there are exceptions, here are a few. If the crime committed was rape there is no statute of limitations. If the crime committed was aggravated criminal sodomy there is no statute of limitations. If the crime committed was murder there is no statute of limitations. If the crime committed was terrorism or illegal use of weapons of mass destruction there is not statute of limitations. If the victim of the crime is the Kansas Public Employees retirement system the state has 10 years to charge the crime. If the crime is a sexually defined crime in K.S.A. 22-3717 and The victim is 18 years or younger the crime must be charged within 10 years of the victim becoming 18 or one year from the date the identity of the suspect is conclusively established by DNA testing, whichever is later.The period within which a prosecution shall be commenced shall not include any period in which:
For the purpose of the criminal statute of limitations: When Is An Offense Committed? An offense is committed either when every element occurs, or, if a legislative purpose to prohibit a continuing offense plainly appears, at the time when the course of conduct or the defendant’s complicity therein is terminated. Time starts to run on the day after the offense is committed. When Is A Prosecution Commenced? A prosecution is commenced when a complaint or information is filed, or an indictment returned, and a warrant thereon is delivered to the sheriff or other officer for execution. No such prosecution shall be deemed to have been commenced if the warrant so issued is not executed without unreasonable delay. |