Legal Question in Criminal Law in Florida

Yes. If the Statute of Limitations for the offense is three years, the State has 3 years from the date of the offense to file charges and notify you of the pending charges. Notification is done by arresting you or serving you with a copy of the charging document (referred to as the Information). If you were arrested for the charge, but no formal charges were filed at that time, all the State has to do is file the charging document with the Clerk of Courts inside the 3 year time frame. If you failed to keep in touch with the Court system after your arrest, the charge will stay open until they find you. However, if you were never arrested, charges need to be filed and the warrant needs to be served on you inside the time frame. If the warrant is not served on you inside the proper time frame, the State has to show that they made a good faith effort to locate you to serve the warrant inside the statutory time period (one attempt is not enough). If the State can not show that they have been actively looking for you, the warrant can be vacated or the charges dismissed.

In order to utilize this defense, you will most likely need to have an attorney file a motion to Vacate the Warrant (if the warrant hasn't been serve), or a Motion to Dismiss if you've already been arrested on the warrant.