Every criminal case in America runs against a clock that most people never see. It is the statute of limitations, the legal deadline for filing charges after a crime. Once it runs out, most offenses can no longer be prosecuted, no matter how strong the evidence. Murder is the major exception, which is why a killing from the 1990s can still end up in a courtroom in 2026.
What the deadline is and why it exists
A statute of limitations sets how long the government has to bring charges. It bars the prosecution. It does not declare anyone innocent.
The Supreme Court laid out the reasoning in Toussie v. United States in 1970. "The purpose of a statute of limitations is to limit exposure to criminal prosecution to a certain fixed period of time," the Court wrote. Such limits are "designed to protect individuals from having to defend themselves against charges when the basic facts may have become obscured by the passage of time." Witnesses die, memories fade and alibis become impossible to prove. The deadlines also push police and prosecutors to act promptly.
The federal rules, five years or never
For most federal crimes, the default is five years. Under 18 U.S.C. 3282, no one may be prosecuted "for any offense, not capital," unless charges are filed within five years of the offense, except where another law says otherwise.
Capital crimes have no deadline at all. 18 U.S.C. 3281 says an indictment for any offense punishable by death "may be found at any time without limitation." Congress has also removed the limit for federal kidnapping of a minor and for most federal felony sex offenses and sex trafficking.
DNA has its own federal rule. When DNA testing implicates an identified person in a felony, 18 U.S.C. 3297 gives prosecutors a fresh period, equal to the original limit, that starts from the DNA identification. Our explainer covers how DNA evidence is used in court.
How the states differ
Each state writes its own deadlines, and they vary widely. Murder is usually not time barred. California, for example, allows prosecution "at any time" for crimes punishable by death or life in prison under Penal Code 799. North Carolina sets no limit on felonies at all, according to a survey of state rules.
Sexual assault is where the law has moved the most. California removed its 10-year limit for rape in 2016, and Illinois removed its limit for sexual assault and aggravated sexual abuse of children in 2017, PBS NewsHour reported. The same report said more than half the states allowed exceptions when DNA evidence emerges. RAINN says DNA can lengthen or eliminate the time limit in some states.
Not everyone backed those changes. The ACLU of California opposed the 2016 bill over the risk of wrongful convictions. "The statute of limitations is there for a reason," Natasha Minsker of the ACLU of California told PBS. The reforms also have a hard boundary. In Stogner v. California in 2003, the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that a state cannot revive a prosecution after the old deadline has already expired.
Pausing the clock
Lawyers call stopping the clock "tolling." Federal law says no statute of limitations "shall extend to any person fleeing from justice," under 18 U.S.C. 3290. Some states pause the clock while the accused lives out of state. Some prosecutors charge an unnamed "John Doe" identified only by a DNA profile, which stops the clock before anyone knows a name. Many deadlines for crimes against children start counting only when the victim turns 18.
A cold case, 30 years on
In February, Los Angeles County prosecutors charged Brian Walton, 63, with murder in the 1996 killing of Claudia Guevara, a 23-year-old woman whose body was found in a drainage ditch in Azusa, KTLA reported. Prosecutors alleged the killing happened during a rape and said DNA linked him to the crime. District Attorney Nathan Hochman said the family "has waited for an agonizing 30 years to get that call," according to Fox News. Walton is presumed innocent, and the reports reviewed did not say how he has pleaded.
No deadline does not mean no defense. A defendant can still argue that decades of delay violated his right to a speedy trial. It is the kind of question the Two Taps legal panel takes apart on the show.
This article is general information about how the law works, not legal advice.
Two Taps News stories summarize reporting and the analysis discussed on Two Taps and Friends. They are not legal advice. Read our standards.
