Arizona DUI Statute of Limitations: 1, 2, or 7 Years?

The Arizona DUI statute of limitations gives prosecutors one year to file misdemeanor DUI charges, two years if the DUI involved a crash that caused serious physical injury or death, and seven years to file felony aggravated DUI charges.¹ Once the applicable window closes without a formal charging document, the state generally loses the ability to prosecute.

One Year for Misdemeanor DUI

Most DUI arrests in Arizona end up as misdemeanors, and the prosecutor has one year from the offense to file charges.¹ That one-year window applies across the misdemeanor tiers:

The BAC number itself does not change the deadline. As long as no aggravating factor bumps the case to a felony and no crash caused serious injury or death, the offense is a misdemeanor and the one-year rule controls.

Two Years When a DUI Crash Causes Serious Injury or Death

Arizona’s DUI statutes carry their own, longer limitations period in one scenario: a DUI involving a collision that causes serious physical injury or death. In that situation prosecutors have two years to file, not one.² The two-year window also applies to extreme and super extreme DUI charges tied to such a crash.³

Arizona’s general time-limitations statute explicitly carves out these DUI sections from its default rules, which is why the DUI-specific two-year period controls.¹ The same two-year period applies to the separate offense of causing death or serious injury by use of a vehicle.⁴ If someone was seriously hurt in a DUI crash, do not assume the one-year misdemeanor deadline protects the case.

Seven Years for Felony Aggravated DUI

When a DUI is charged as an aggravated offense, Arizona gives the state seven years to file.¹ A DUI becomes aggravated under any of the following circumstances:

Driving under the influence while your license is suspended, revoked, or restricted due to a prior DUI-related offense — a Class 4 felony.⁵
A third or subsequent DUI within 84 months, counting any combination of standard, extreme, or aggravated DUI convictions — a Class 4 felony.⁵
Driving under the influence with a passenger younger than 15 in the vehicle — a Class 6 felony.⁵

The Class 6 felony for a child passenger still gets the full seven-year period. Arizona law provides that the felony limitation applies to Class 6 felonies even if a court or prosecutor later designates the offense as a misdemeanor.¹

When the Clock Starts

The limitation period does not automatically start on the date of the traffic stop. Arizona uses a discovery framework: the clock begins when the state actually discovers the offense, or when it should have discovered the offense through reasonable effort, whichever comes first.¹ The same discovery language appears in the two-year DUI provisions for crashes involving serious injury or death.²

For a typical DUI arrest, the discovery date and the offense date are the same. The officer stops you, identifies you, and runs the investigation on the spot. Discovery becomes important when the driver’s identity is unknown at first. A hit-and-run DUI crash is the clearest example: if the driver flees and investigators cannot identify who was behind the wheel for several months, the limitations clock does not start running until that identification is made or reasonably should have been made.

When the Clock Pauses

Arizona pauses the limitations clock during any time the accused is physically outside the state or has no reasonably ascertainable address inside it.¹ That time simply does not count. Four months spent living out of state after a misdemeanor DUI effectively gives the prosecutor four extra months to file.

A separate tolling rule applies to serious offenses where the identity of the person who committed the crime is unknown.¹ That is uncommon in a routine DUI stop but can come into play in a felony hit-and-run investigation.

What Actually Stops the Clock

A prosecution is officially commenced when the state files a complaint, information, or indictment.¹ An arrest or a citation on its own does not stop the clock. The formal charging document has to be on file with the court before the deadline runs.

Arizona also builds in a refile window. If charges are filed on time but later dismissed for any reason, the state has six months from the dismissal becoming final to refile, even if the original limitation period has already expired.¹ A procedural dismissal does not necessarily end the case for good.

What Happens If the Deadline Passes

If the applicable limitation period runs out before any charging document is filed, the state loses the authority to prosecute. The expired statute of limitations becomes a defense, and absent tolling or another exception the court will dismiss the case. This defense does not require arguing about the facts of the DUI itself. The only question is whether the state filed on time.

Arizona courts do not police this on their own, though. If you believe the charges were filed after the deadline, that argument has to be raised. Everything turns on exact dates: the offense date, any time spent outside the state, the identification date in a hit-and-run, and the file-stamp date on the complaint, information, or indictment. Getting that timeline right is the whole game.

Speedy Trial Is a Different Deadline

The statute of limitations is not the same as the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial. The limitations period controls the gap between the offense and the filing of charges. Speedy trial protections control the gap between being formally charged or arrested and actually going to trial, and courts evaluate speedy trial claims through a balancing test rather than a fixed deadline.⁶ Arizona court rules add their own day-count limits for bringing a filed case to trial. Both protections can matter in the same DUI prosecution, but they answer different questions.

1
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 13-107 – Time Limitations
2
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 28-1381 – Driving or Actual Physical Control While Under the Influence
3
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 28-1382 – Driving or Actual Physical Control While Under the Extreme Influence
4
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 28-672
5
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 28-1383 – Aggravated Driving or Actual Physical Control While Under the Influence
6
Constitution Annotated. Overview of Right to a Speedy Trial