The Arizona criminal statute of limitations sets how long prosecutors have to file charges after a crime occurs. Most felonies carry a seven-year deadline, misdemeanors must be charged within one year, and petty offenses within six months. Homicide and a short list of the most serious crimes have no deadline at all, and a two-year window applies to DUI and certain traffic offenses that cause serious injury or death. These rules live in Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-107 and a few related traffic statutes.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-107 – Time Limitations
Deadlines by Offense Level
The time the state has to file charges depends on how the offense is classified:
- Felonies (Class 2 through Class 6): seven years.
- Misdemeanors (all classes): one year.
- Petty offenses: six months.
- DUI or moving violations causing serious physical injury or death: two years.
- Homicide and other listed serious crimes: no limit.
The seven-year felony deadline sweeps in a wide range of conduct, from aggravated assault and burglary to fraud and major theft. If a Class 6 felony is later designated as a misdemeanor at sentencing, the original seven-year felony deadline still governs; the case does not retroactively fall under the one-year rule.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-107 – Time Limitations
To meet any of these deadlines, the state must file a formal charging document before the clock runs out. That can be a grand jury indictment, an information filed by the prosecutor, or a criminal complaint. Any one of them stops the clock.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-107 – Time Limitations
Crimes With No Filing Deadline
Arizona lets prosecutors file certain charges at any point, no matter how old the offense. The no-limit categories are:
- Homicide, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and manslaughter, plus conspiracy to commit homicide that results in death.
- Class 2 felony sexual offenses under Arizona’s sexual offense and sex offender chapters, including sexual assault and the most aggravated forms of sexual conduct with a minor.
- Violent sexual assault involving a deadly weapon, a dangerous instrument, or intentional serious injury, where the offender has a prior sexual-offense felony conviction.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-1423 – Violent Sexual Assault; Natural Life Sentence
- Child sex trafficking.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-3212 – Child Sex Trafficking
- Terrorism and bioterrorism offenses, including financing or directing terrorism and using biological or radiological agents to cause harm.4Justia Law. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-2308.01 – Terrorism
- Any felony involving misuse of public money or falsifying public records.
- Attempts to commit any of the offenses above.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-107 – Time Limitations
Including attempts matters. An attempted murder where the victim survives has no filing deadline, the same as a completed homicide.
When the Clock Starts
For most offenses, the deadline does not run from the date the crime occurred. It runs from when the state actually discovered the offense, or when it should have discovered the offense through reasonable effort, whichever comes first.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-107 – Time Limitations
This discovery rule matters most for conduct that stays hidden. Embezzlement, insurance fraud, and similar offenses may go undetected for years, and the seven-year clock does not begin until the state knew or reasonably should have known what happened. The same discovery trigger applies to misdemeanors and petty offenses.
When the Clock Pauses
Two circumstances stop the statute of limitations from running even while time passes.
The first is absence from the state. If the person who committed the offense leaves Arizona or has no address within the state that authorities can reasonably identify, the clock pauses until they return or become locatable. Someone who commits a crime in Tucson and moves out of state for three years does not get to count those three years toward the deadline.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-107 – Time Limitations
The second applies only to “serious offenses” and activates when the identity of the offender is unknown. The crime may be known to police, but if investigators cannot identify who did it, the clock does not move. The serious-offense list under § 13-706 includes first- and second-degree murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault with serious injury or a deadly weapon, sexual assault, dangerous crimes against children, arson of an occupied structure, armed robbery, first-degree burglary, kidnapping, sexual conduct with a minor under 15, and child sex trafficking.5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-706 – Serious Offense; Definitions For any of these, the deadline does not begin to run until the suspect is identified.
DUI and Serious-Injury Traffic Exception
A routine DUI is a misdemeanor and falls under the one-year deadline. That changes the moment a crash is involved. When a DUI violation results in a collision causing serious physical injury or death, the state has two years from discovery to file charges. This applies to both standard DUI under § 28-1381 and extreme DUI under § 28-1382.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 28 Section 28-1381 – Driving or Actual Physical Control While Under the Influence7Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 28 Section 28-1382 – Driving or Actual Physical Control While Under the Extreme Influence
A parallel two-year deadline applies to causing serious physical injury or death through a moving violation. That covers conduct like running a red light, speeding, or failing to yield when the violation leads to a serious or fatal crash.8Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 28 Section 28-672 – Causing Serious Physical Injury or Death by a Moving Violation Crash investigations, toxicology work, and medical outcomes often take longer than a one-year window allows, and the extended deadline reflects that.
Refiling After a Dismissal
If the state files charges on time but the case is later dismissed for any reason, Arizona gives prosecutors six months to refile. This refiling window applies even if the original statute of limitations has already run by the time the dismissal becomes final.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-107 – Time Limitations
The rule exists so that a technical defect in a charging document or a successful pretrial motion does not permanently kill a case that was timely filed. The six months run from the date the dismissal becomes final.
What Happens When the Deadline Passes
Once the applicable deadline expires, the state loses its authority to prosecute. Charges filed after the window has closed are vulnerable to dismissal, and a successful limitations challenge ends the case for good because the prosecution cannot be revived.
That protection is not automatic. Courts do not police filing deadlines on their own, and judges do not throw out late charges unprompted. The accused generally has to raise the statute of limitations as a defense, usually through a motion to dismiss. If you are facing charges and think the window may have closed, flagging the issue quickly matters.
One boundary to keep in mind: the statute of limitations governs only the time before charges are filed. The Sixth Amendment’s speedy trial right is a separate protection that applies after arrest or formal charge and addresses delays in bringing a case to trial.9Constitution Annotated. Overview of Right to a Speedy Trial If your concern is delay after you were charged, that is a different analysis with different remedies.