Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Virginia

Re: Question about statute of limitations

The charge has to have been brought,

either by grand jury indictment or by

paperwork(commonly referred to as an information) filed by an authorized prosecutor, within the required time period, denominated in 24 hour days.

And, no, the person need not have been taken into custody.

Hypothetical Example: The accused commits a Class 1 misdemeanor crime in Norfolk, Virginia, on January 1, 2007. Misdemeanor crimes in the Commonwealth normally have a statute of limitations of one year. Let us say that for various reasons the alleged crime is not brought to the attention of the Office of Commonwealth Attorney in Norfolk until the morning of December 31, 2007. The assistant commonwealth attorney assigned to the case, after

consulting with his or her supervisor, decides that, despite the passage of time, it's a matter serious enough to warrant prosecution. Consequently, a criminal information is prepared and filed with the court that very afternoon and a summons issued to be served upon the accused to appear in court on a particular day and time to answer the charge. The Commonwealth would've then been within the statute of limitations applicable to this particular crime and would have been able to proceed with the prosecution of this matter after service of the summons upon the defendant.

However, given the same facts as outlined above, if no paperwork had been filed by the elapse of Dec. 31, 2007, the statute of limitations for this particular offense would've expired and it would have no longer been prosecutable in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Yes, that means at 12.01 AM on the morning of January 1, 2008, it would have been too late.