Legal Question in Criminal Law in Texas

What happens if the court agrees to lessen the charge on a felony crime to a misdemeanor via a plea bargain agreement, but the statute of limitations has already worn out on the lesser crime (misdemeanor), but not the original crime (felony)?

For example, someone commits a felony, which has a 3 year SOL, 2.5 years ago and is finally caught and formally accused after those 2.5 years and is sent to court. Then, the court agrees to lessen the charge to a misdemeanor thanks to a plea bargain agreement. However, a misdemeanor only has a SOL of 2 years, so, does that mean that person is off the hook or not?


Asked on 9/25/11, 2:56 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
M. Elizabeth Foley The Law Office of M. Elizabeth Foley

I'm pretty sure you've already asked this here or at another site within the last couple of days, and that the answer you received was correct. The statute of limitations is just the period within which an offense needs to be filed, not resolved. As long as the felony charge was filed within the SOL, and there's a voluntary plea agreement to whatever offense after that, it doesn't matter, everything's waive and is perfectly valid.

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Answered on 9/25/11, 6:37 am


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