i want to know if there is a felony warrent or missdomenor warrent for your arrest is it dropped after 7 years like i have been told for the statue of limitations??
2006-12-02 13:55:08 · 4 answers · asked by j 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
Depends on your Crime. Some crimes there are no statute of limitations.
2006-12-02 20:54:29 · answer #1 · answered by .45 Peacemaker 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Okay, I'll start with the basics: the statute of limitations prevents a person from being prosecuted for a crime which occurred a long time ago. Each state determines how long that period is for each type of crime. So, if you committed a property damage crime and the statute of limitations is three years, and the prosecutor waited three years to charge you, you could raise a time-limitations defense. The charge would be dismissed.
The legal clock begins ticking from the time the prosecutor had probable cause to charge you with the crime --once the time period has expired, you cannot be prosecuted.
There are a couple of very important exceptions, however. If you leave the state, or fail to appear for a court hearing, the clock stops ticking. This means that any time that goes by after you missed your hearing, or are out of the state, is not counted for purposes of the statute of limitations. Otherwise, every Joe Methcase or Randy Rapist would fail to appear for court.
Because l am a prosecutor, the court frequently asks me to dismiss old prosecution cases which led to arrest warrants. Since the statute of limitations does not apply to any case in which an arrest warrant has been issued, I have to decide how strong my case would be based upon the evidence, the severity of the crime, and how many years have elapsed. If the case is a check forgery from ten years ago, and the clerk who accepted the check no longer lives in the state, I will likely dismiss the case and the warrant will be quashed. On the other hand, if the case involves a violent crime in which law enforcement has gathered DNA evidence, there is no chance that I would file a dismissal.
If you think that a warrant has been issued for your arrest, you could contact the court which issued the warrant to see what your options are. If this is a traffic matter, you might be able to resolve it by mail. If this is something more serious, your options are to talk to an attorney for legal advice or ignore it and hope that you aren't pulled over for the rest of your life.
2006-12-02 18:28:55 · answer #2 · answered by snowdrift 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Go to a public library and research it for yourself, or you can simply call your local District Attorney's Office.
2006-12-02 14:12:16 · answer #3 · answered by gablueliner 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
sry im here in VA
2006-12-02 13:57:15 · answer #4 · answered by Lucky 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋