Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Interstate or international flight to avoid prosecution is a separate federal crime and might toll the statute of limitations. No one should ever volunteer to be questioned about a crime. Say only that you have nothing to say without an attorney present.

If a warrant is issued while you are out of the country, you are likely to be arrested when you go through customs coming back into the country. Then you will be held at the point of entry until the local police or the FBI pick you up and transport you back to the jurisdiction or origin.

The statute of limitations governs when charges must be filed, not when the suspect must be arrested or when he must be served with papers. Leaving the country would not prevent the prosecutor from filing charges before the limitations period expires. Once that happens, the charges would never expire, and you could be prosecuted whenever you re-enter the country. What's more, your charges would probably come to the attention of officials as soon as you enter the country; you might well be arrested at the border. And as Mr. Stone notes, leaving the country could amount to a separate crime depending upon the circumstances.