Texas Criminal Statute of Limitations Laws
What Is a Criminal Statute of Limitations in Texas?
A criminal statute of limitations is a legal deadline that restricts how long prosecutors have to file charges after an alleged crime occurs. In Texas, these deadlines range from one year for minor misdemeanors to no time limit at all for the most serious offenses like murder. Once the applicable deadline passes, the state is permanently barred from pursuing charges, regardless of how strong the evidence may be.
| Category | Time Limit | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| No statute of limitations | None | Murder, manslaughter, sexual assault of a child |
| 20-year felonies | 20 years | Aggravated kidnapping with intent to sexually assault, sexual performance by a child |
| 10-year felonies | 10 years | Arson, forgery, theft by a public servant |
| 7-year felonies | 7 years | Money laundering, Medicaid fraud, bigamy |
| 5-year felonies | 5 years | Robbery, burglary, kidnapping, theft |
| 3-year felonies (default) | 3 years | All felonies not specifically listed elsewhere |
| Class A and B misdemeanors | 2 years | Assault, theft under $2,500 |
| Class C misdemeanors | 1 year | Minor traffic offenses |
Texas codifies its criminal statutes of limitations in Chapter 12 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. The legislature designed these time limits for several important reasons. Physical evidence degrades or is lost over time. Witnesses' memories become unreliable. Allowing the threat of prosecution to hang indefinitely over a person is also considered fundamentally unjust for less serious offenses.
More serious crimes carry longer deadlines, or no deadline at all, because the public interest in holding offenders accountable outweighs the concerns about stale evidence. Below is a detailed breakdown of every major category of Texas criminal statute of limitations.
Crimes With No Statute of Limitations
Texas allows prosecutors to bring charges at any time for its most serious criminal offenses. There is no filing deadline for murder, manslaughter, or several categories of sexual crimes. Cold cases involving these offenses can be reopened and prosecuted decades after they occurred, as long as sufficient evidence exists.
| Offense | Statute of Limitations |
|---|---|
| Murder | No limit |
| Manslaughter | No limit |
| Sexual assault of a child | No limit |
| Aggravated sexual assault of a child | No limit |
| Continuous sexual abuse of young children (2+ incidents) | No limit |
| Indecency with a child | No limit |
| Adult sexual assault (with untested biological evidence or evidence not matching a known person) | No limit |
| Adult sexual assault (accused believed to have committed the same offense against 5+ victims) | No limit |
| Leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death | No limit |
| Human trafficking (continuous trafficking or under PC 20A.02(a)(7) or (8)) | No limit |
The elimination of time limits for these offenses reflects a legislative judgment that the severity of the harm justifies permanent accountability. Advances in forensic science, particularly DNA analysis, have made it possible to identify offenders long after the original crime. This is especially relevant for sexual assault cases where biological evidence was collected but never tested.
20-Year Statute of Limitations
Certain serious felonies in Texas carry a 20-year prosecution window. These offenses typically involve sexual crimes or human trafficking, and the lengthy deadline reflects the gravity of the conduct along with the time victims often need before they are ready to report.
| Offense | Statute of Limitations |
|---|---|
| Aggravated kidnapping with intent to commit a sexual offense | 20 years |
| Burglary of a habitation with intent to commit a sexual offense (PC 30.02(d)) | 20 years |
| Sexual performance by a child | 20 years |
| Human trafficking of a disabled person or minor | 20 years |
When the victim in any of these offenses is a minor, the 20-year period does not begin running on the date of the crime. Instead, the clock starts on the victim's 18th birthday. This special rule, discussed in more detail in the section on minor victims below, can extend the effective prosecution window to several decades.
10-Year Statute of Limitations
A 10-year statute of limitations applies to a broad range of serious felonies in Texas, including property crimes involving breach of trust, violent offenses against vulnerable populations, and certain sexual offenses committed against adults.
| Offense | Statute of Limitations |
|---|---|
| Theft by a public servant of government property | 10 years |
| Theft of an estate by a fiduciary (executor or similar party) with intent to defraud | 10 years |
| Forgery and uttering forged instruments | 10 years |
| Arson | 10 years |
| Injury to an elderly or disabled person (first-degree felony under PC 22.04) | 10 years |
| Sexual assault of an adult (standard cases with tested DNA matching a known person) | 10 years |
| Aggravated sexual assault of an adult | 10 years |
| Compelling prostitution | 10 years |
| Trafficking of persons under PC 20A.02(a)(1) to (4) | 10 years |
Adult sexual assault cases deserve particular attention. If a forensic rape kit examination was conducted promptly and the DNA evidence matches a known individual, the standard 10-year deadline applies. However, if the biological evidence remains untested or does not match any known person in a DNA database, no statute of limitations applies at all.
Crimes involving fiduciary abuse and public servant theft carry 10-year deadlines because these offenses often involve concealment, making them difficult to detect quickly. The extended window gives law enforcement and prosecutors adequate time to uncover the wrongdoing.
10-Year Deadline From a Victim's 18th Birthday
Several offenses carry a 10-year statute of limitations measured from the date the victim turns 18, rather than from the date of the offense. These include:
- Injury to a child (PC 22.04)
- Human trafficking under PC 20A.02(a)(5) or (6)
- Bigamy when the victim was under 18
- Compelling prostitution under PC 43.05(a)(2)
7-Year Statute of Limitations
Texas gives prosecutors seven years to file charges for felonies that primarily involve financial fraud, deception, and abuse of trust. These crimes often require extensive investigation because of their complexity and the lengths offenders go to in concealing their actions.
| Offense | Statute of Limitations |
|---|---|
| Money laundering | 7 years |
| Medicaid fraud | 7 years |
| Insurance fraud | 7 years |
| Misapplication of fiduciary property | 7 years |
| Misapplication of a financial institution's property | 7 years |
| Credit or debit card abuse | 7 years |
| Fraudulent use or possession of identifying information | 7 years |
| Securing execution of a document by deception | 7 years |
| Giving false statements to obtain property or credit | 7 years |
| Bigamy | 7 years |
| Certain felony tax violations | 7 years |
Financial crimes tend to involve complex paper trails, shell companies, and multi-layered schemes. The seven-year window provides investigators with enough time to trace transactions, secure financial records, and build a prosecutable case. Identity theft and credit card abuse also fall into this category because victims frequently do not discover the fraud until months or years after it begins.
5-Year Statute of Limitations
A five-year statute of limitations covers many common property crimes and certain violent offenses in Texas. These are serious felonies, but they fall below the threshold that justifies longer prosecution windows.
| Offense | Statute of Limitations |
|---|---|
| Theft | 5 years |
| Robbery | 5 years |
| Burglary | 5 years |
| Kidnapping | 5 years |
| Injury to an elderly or disabled person (second or third-degree felony) | 5 years |
| Abandoning a child | 5 years |
| Endangering a child | 5 years |
| Felony assault on a family member, household member, or dating partner | 5 years |
| Continuous violence against the family | 5 years |
| Aggravated assault | 5 years |
Note that the injury to an elderly or disabled person charge appears at two different limitation levels. When charged as a first-degree felony, the deadline is 10 years. When charged as a second or third-degree felony, it drops to five years. The classification depends on factors such as the severity of the injury and the offender's mental state.
3-Year Default for Other Felonies
Any Texas felony not specifically assigned a longer statute of limitations is subject to a default three-year prosecution deadline. This catch-all provision ensures that all felony offenses have a defined time limit, even if the legislature has not addressed them individually.
| Category | Statute of Limitations |
|---|---|
| All felonies not listed under a longer deadline | 3 years |
If you are trying to determine the deadline for a specific felony charge and it does not appear in any of the categories above, the default three-year rule almost certainly applies. This includes many drug offenses, lower-level property crimes charged as felonies, and various regulatory violations.
Misdemeanor Statutes of Limitations
Texas misdemeanors have shorter statutes of limitations than felonies, ranging from one to two years depending on the classification. Texas divides misdemeanors into three classes based on severity, and the prosecution window corresponds to that classification.
| Misdemeanor Class | Statute of Limitations | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Class A misdemeanor | 2 years | Assault causing bodily injury, DWI (first offense), burglary of a vehicle |
| Class B misdemeanor | 2 years | Theft under $2,500, first-offense possession of small amounts of marijuana |
| Class C misdemeanor | 1 year | Minor traffic violations, disorderly conduct, public intoxication |
Class A misdemeanors are the most serious, carrying potential penalties of up to one year in county jail and fines up to $4,000. Class C misdemeanors are the least serious, punishable only by a fine of up to $500 with no jail time. The shorter one-year deadline for Class C offenses reflects the relatively minor nature of these violations.
When the Clock Stops: Tolling the Statute of Limitations
Statutes of limitations do not always run continuously from the date of the offense to the filing deadline. Under certain circumstances, the clock can be paused, or "tolled." This effectively extends the time prosecutors have to bring charges.
| Tolling Circumstance | Effect on the Clock |
|---|---|
| Defendant is absent from Texas | Time outside the state does not count toward the deadline |
| Defendant is charged or indicted for the same act | Clock pauses until charges are resolved; restarts if charges are dropped |
| Defendant flees or actively hides | Clock pauses until the defendant can be located |
| DNA evidence is discovered at a later date | May restart or extend the clock depending on the offense |
| Victim was a minor at the time of the crime | Clock may not start until the victim turns 18 |
Absence From Texas
One of the most common tolling provisions in Texas criminal law involves the defendant's absence from the state. Any period of time the defendant spends outside Texas does not count toward the statute of limitations. For example, if a person commits a burglary (five-year deadline) and then leaves Texas for two years, the state effectively has seven years from the date of the offense to file charges.
Pending Charges or Indictment
If the defendant is charged or indicted for the same criminal act, the statute of limitations pauses for the duration of that case. Should those charges later be dismissed, the clock resumes from where it stopped. This prevents suspects from escaping prosecution by dragging out proceedings until the deadline expires.
DNA Discoveries
When new DNA evidence is discovered after the original offense, Texas law may allow the statute of limitations to be extended or restarted. This provision has been particularly significant in sexual assault cases where forensic evidence was collected but not analyzed for years due to backlogs in crime laboratories.
Special Rules for Crimes Against Minors
Texas provides extended prosecution windows for crimes committed against children. For many offenses involving minor victims, the statute of limitations does not begin running until the victim turns 18 years old. This recognizes that children often cannot report crimes on their own and may not fully understand what happened to them until adulthood.
| Offense | Limitation Period | Clock Starts |
|---|---|---|
| Sexual assault of a child | No limit | N/A |
| Continuous sexual abuse of young children | No limit | N/A |
| Indecency with a child | No limit | N/A |
| Sexual performance by a child | 20 years | Victim's 18th birthday |
| Aggravated kidnapping with intent to sexually assault | 20 years | Victim's 18th birthday |
| Injury to a child (PC 22.04) | 10 years | Victim's 18th birthday |
| Compelling prostitution (PC 43.05(a)(2)) | 10 years | Victim's 18th birthday |
| Bigamy (victim under 18) | 10 years | Victim's 18th birthday |
For the most serious offenses against children, such as sexual assault and indecency with a child, Texas imposes no statute of limitations whatsoever. A person who sexually assaults a child can be charged and prosecuted at any point during their lifetime, regardless of how many years have passed.
For offenses that do carry a deadline, measuring from the victim's 18th birthday can produce very long effective prosecution windows. For instance, a sexual performance by a child offense committed against a 5-year-old would not start its 20-year clock until the victim turns 18, giving prosecutors until the victim is 38 years old to file charges.
When the Clock Starts: The Accrual Date
The accrual date is the day the statute of limitations begins running. In most Texas criminal cases, this is simply the date the alleged offense was committed. Determining the correct accrual date is critical because an error of even one day can mean the difference between a valid prosecution and a time-barred case.
| Scenario | Accrual Date |
|---|---|
| Standard criminal offense | Date the crime was committed |
| Crime against a minor | Victim's 18th birthday (for applicable offenses) |
| Concealed crime (e.g., fraud) | Date the crime was discovered or should have been discovered |
| Ongoing or continuous offense | Date the last criminal act occurred |
For most offenses, determining the accrual date is straightforward. A robbery that occurs on March 15, 2020, triggers a five-year clock that expires on March 15, 2025. Fraud cases, on the other hand, can be more complicated because the victim may not discover the wrongdoing for months or years after it begins.
Continuous offenses, such as ongoing schemes to defraud or continuous sexual abuse of a child, use the date of the last criminal act as the accrual date. This prevents offenders from shielding themselves from prosecution by pointing to the start date of a long-running criminal enterprise.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does murder have a statute of limitations in Texas?
No. Murder and manslaughter have no statute of limitations in Texas. Prosecutors can file charges at any time after the offense, regardless of how many years or decades have passed. This is why cold case homicides can still result in criminal prosecution when new evidence surfaces.
What happens if the statute of limitations expires?
Once the statute of limitations expires, the state is permanently barred from prosecuting the offense. A defendant who is charged after the deadline has passed can file a motion to dismiss, and the court must grant it. The time bar cannot be waived by the defendant or overridden by the prosecution.
Can the statute of limitations be extended in Texas?
Yes, through tolling. The most common extensions occur when the defendant leaves Texas (time out of state does not count toward the deadline) or when the defendant is charged or indicted for the same act (the clock pauses until the case is resolved). New DNA discoveries can also effectively extend the deadline for certain offenses.
What is the statute of limitations for DWI in Texas?
A first-offense DWI is typically charged as a Class B misdemeanor in Texas, which carries a two-year statute of limitations. Felony DWI charges, such as those involving a third or subsequent offense, are subject to the default three-year felony deadline unless specifically listed under a longer limitations period.
What is the statute of limitations for sexual assault in Texas?
It depends on the victim's age and the available evidence. Sexual assault of a child has no statute of limitations. Adult sexual assault generally has a 10-year deadline, but this extends to no limit if biological evidence is untested, does not match a known person, or if the accused is believed to have committed the same offense against five or more victims.
What is the statute of limitations for theft in Texas?
Standard theft in Texas has a five-year statute of limitations when charged as a felony. If a public servant stole government property entrusted to their control, the deadline extends to 10 years. Misdemeanor theft (under $2,500) has a two-year deadline.
Do federal crimes in Texas follow the same statutes of limitations?
No. Federal criminal statutes of limitations are set by federal law, not Texas law. The general federal statute of limitations for non-capital offenses is five years under 18 U.S.C. § 3282, though many specific federal crimes have longer or shorter deadlines. Federal capital offenses, like state murder charges, have no statute of limitations.