The California criminal statute of limitations sets how long prosecutors have to file charges, and it ranges from one year for most misdemeanors to no deadline at all for murder, other life-sentence offenses, and many serious sex crimes. The specific window depends on the maximum punishment the offense carries, whether the victim was a minor, and whether the crime involved fraud or concealment.
The default tiers under California law:
- One year for most misdemeanors, including petty theft, simple assault, and standard DUI.
- Three years for felonies punishable by less than eight years in state prison, such as assault with a deadly weapon, second-degree robbery, and residential burglary.
- Four years for fraud-based felonies, grand theft, embezzlement of an elder or dependent adult, breach of fiduciary duty, and misconduct in office, with the clock running from discovery rather than the date of the offense.
- Six years for felonies punishable by eight or more years in state prison, such as first-degree robbery.
- No time limit for offenses punishable by death or life in prison, embezzlement of public money, and certain serious sex crimes.
These tiers are the starting point. Many individual crimes have their own deadlines written into separate code sections, so the tier only tells you where to look.
Crimes That Can Be Charged at Any Time
Under Penal Code 799, any offense punishable by death or life imprisonment can be prosecuted at any time.1California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 799 Murder is the clearest example; aggravated kidnapping and other life-sentence offenses fall in the same category. Embezzlement of public money is specifically listed with no filing deadline, even though the potential sentence is less than life.
Since 2017, California has also removed the statute of limitations for a broad list of serious sex crimes, including forcible rape and sexual acts accomplished by force or threats. The change applies to offenses committed on or after January 1, 2017, and to older offenses where the previous time limit had not yet expired as of that date.1California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 799
Deadlines by Type of Crime
Theft
Petty theft is a misdemeanor and carries the standard one-year deadline.2California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 802 Grand theft and fraud-adjacent theft offenses get four years, and the clock does not start until the victim discovers the loss or reasonably should have discovered it.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 803 A contractor who embezzles from a client over several years may not face charges until an audit surfaces the missing funds, and the four-year window runs from the audit rather than the first stolen dollar.
Assault, Battery, and Robbery
Misdemeanor assault and battery follow the one-year rule. Assault with a deadly weapon is a felony punishable by two to four years, which places it in the three-year tier. Robbery splits: second-degree robbery tops out at five years in prison and falls into the three-year tier, while first-degree robbery carries three to nine years and lands in the six-year tier.
Domestic violence involving corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant carries a five-year statute of limitations, longer than most felonies in the same sentencing range.
DUI
A standard DUI is a misdemeanor with a one-year filing deadline. A DUI causing injury or death can be charged as a felony, which extends the deadline to three years or more depending on the severity of harm and the resulting prison exposure.
Fraud and White-Collar Offenses
Fraud offenses get four years from the date of discovery. The category covers insurance fraud, welfare fraud, securities violations, falsification of public records, and bribery of a public official, among others. Penal Code 803(c) lists the specific offenses that qualify for the discovery rule.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 803
Offenses Against Minors
Misdemeanor annoying or molesting a child under 14 gets three years instead of one.2California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 802 Sexual exploitation by a physician or therapist carries a two-year misdemeanor deadline.
For felony sex offenses where the victim was under 18 at the time of the crime, prosecutors can file charges at any time before the victim turns 40.4California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 801.1 This covers rape, sodomy, lewd acts on a child, continuous sexual abuse, and other listed offenses, and applies to crimes committed on or after January 1, 2015, or older offenses whose previous deadlines had not expired by that date.
Felony sex offenses that require Penal Code 290 registration but don’t qualify for the victim’s-40th-birthday rule or the no-limit provisions of Penal Code 799(b) get 10 years from the date of the crime.4California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 801.1
When the Clock Starts
For most crimes, the statute of limitations begins running the moment the offense is committed. The main exception is the discovery rule under Penal Code 803(c): for felonies where a key element is fraud or breach of fiduciary duty, theft or embezzlement against an elder or dependent adult, and misconduct in office by a public official, the clock does not begin until the crime is discovered or reasonably should have been discovered.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 803
The discovery rule does not apply to crimes generally just because they went undetected. A burglary that nobody witnessed still starts its clock on the date it happened. Certain environmental offenses under the Water Code and Health and Safety Code also use a discovery-based start date.
What Counts as Filing on Time
The deadline is satisfied when prosecution is “commenced.” Under Penal Code 804, that happens through any of the following:
- Filing an indictment or information after a grand jury proceeding or preliminary hearing.
- Filing a misdemeanor or infraction complaint.
- Arraigning the defendant on a felony complaint.
- Issuing an arrest or bench warrant that identifies the defendant with the same level of specificity required in a formal charging document.5California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 804
The warrant provision matters practically. If police identify a suspect near the end of the limitations period but can’t locate the person, a properly detailed warrant preserves the case even if the arrest happens years later.
When the Clock Pauses
Tolling pauses the statute of limitations. California is strict about it. Penal Code 803(a) says the clock is not paused or extended for any reason except those specifically listed in the statute.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 803
The most common tolling event is the defendant leaving California. When a suspect is out of state during or after the crime, up to three years of that absence doesn’t count toward the deadline.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 803 A crime with a three-year deadline and a suspect who spent two years out of state gives prosecutors effectively five years from the date of the offense.
The clock also pauses while prosecution for the same conduct is already pending in a California court. If charges are filed, dismissed on a technicality, and refiled, the time the first case was pending doesn’t count against the deadline.
DNA Evidence in Cold Cases
When DNA evidence identifies a suspect in a sex offense, California allows prosecution within one year of the date the suspect’s identity is conclusively established through DNA testing. Two conditions apply: the crime must be one that requires sex offender registration, and the biological evidence must have been analyzed for DNA within specific timeframes tied to when the offense occurred.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 803 Paired with the 2017 elimination of the statute of limitations for many serious sex crimes, this provision keeps decades-old cases open when a database match surfaces a suspect.
Wobbler Offenses
Many California crimes are “wobblers” that prosecutors can file as either a felony or a misdemeanor. Penal Code 805 resolves which deadline applies: the time limit is based on the maximum punishment the statute allows, regardless of the punishment actually sought or imposed.6California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 805 Because a wobbler can be charged as a felony, the felony deadline governs, and a prosecutor doesn’t lose the option to file as a misdemeanor just because the one-year misdemeanor window has passed. Sentencing enhancements are disregarded in calculating the maximum punishment; only the base offense counts.
Raising the Statute of Limitations as a Defense
A charge filed after the deadline is challenged through a pretrial motion to dismiss. The defendant carries the burden of proving the deadline has passed as a matter of law, and a court will grant the motion only where no reasonable interpretation of the timeline puts the filing within the allowed period.
These disputes usually turn on when the clock started rather than simple calendar math. Prosecutors may argue the discovery rule delayed the start date, that out-of-state absences tolled the clock, or that the DNA evidence exception applies. Each argument opens factual questions that can defeat a pretrial dismissal. An expired statute of limitations is one of the strongest defenses available, but proving it requires pinning down when the offense occurred, when it was discovered, and whether any tolling events interrupted the countdown.