Texas Statute of Limitations
Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 12 governs Texas’s current criminal statutes of limitation. A statute of limitation is the deadline by which the state, in the case of a misdemeanor, has to submit information (or the charging document) against a defendant to a proper officer of the court or the grand jury, in the case of a felony, has to file an indictment against a defendant with a proper office of the court.
Furthermore, the statute is met when the prosecution has filed before the expiration of the statute. This is true even if they have yet to apprehend the defendant. However, failure to apprehend the defendant prior to filing the case is a different matter altogether.
What this means is that most offenses have an expiration date by which a defendant must be charged. You can see many of the Statutes of Limitation specific to Texas law in the table below.
All misdemeanors have a 2 year statute.
| Charge | Statute of Limitations | Code of Criminal Procedure Section |
|---|---|---|
| Murder | None | 12.01(1)(A) |
| Manslaughter | None | 12.01(1)(A) |
| Indecency with a Child | None | 12.01(1)(E) |
| Continuous Sexual Abuse of Young Child(ren) | None | 12.01(1)(D) |
| Leaving the scene of an accident (if it resulted in the death of a person) | None | 12.01(1)(F) |
| Child Trafficking | None | 12.01(1)(G) |
| Sexual Assault of a Child | None | 12.01(1)(B) |
| Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child | None | 12.01(1)(B) |
| Sexual Assault (If DNA obtained in the course of the investigation and it does not match the victim.) | None | 12.01(1)(C) |
| Theft (involving fiduciaries or officials’ forgery) | 10 years | 12.01(2)(A) |
| Theft by a public servant | 10 years | 12.01(2)(B) |
| Forgery | 10 years | 12.01(2)(C) |
| Injury to an Elderly or Disabled Person | 10 years | 12.01(2)(D) |
| Sexual Assault (other than those listed above with no statute of limitations) | 10 years | 12.01(2)(E) |
| Arson | 10 years | 12.01(2)(F) |
| Trafficking of Persons | 10 years | 12.01(2)(G) |
| Compelling Prostitution | 10 years | 12.01(2)(H) |
| Misapplication of Fiduciary Property or Property of a Financial Institution | 7 years | 12.01(3)(A) |
| Securing Execution of Document by Deception | 7 years | 12.01(3)(B) |
| False Statement to Obtain Property or Credit | 7 years | 12.01(3)(D) |
| Money Laundering | 7 years | 12.01(3)(E) |
| Credit/Debit Card Abuse | 7 years | 12.01(3)(F) |
| Fraudulent Use or Possession of Identifying Information | 7 years | 12.01(3)(G) |
| Medicaid Fraud | 7 years | 12.01(3)(H) |
| Bigamy | 7 years | 12.01(3)(H) |
| Theft | 5 years | 12.01(4)(A) |
| Robbery | 5 years | 12.01(4)(A) |
| Kidnapping | 5 years | 12.01(4)(B) |
| Burglary | 5 years | 12.01(4)(B) |
| Injury to an Elderly or Disabled Person (not a first-degree felony) | 5 years | 12.01(4)(C) |
| Abandoning/Endangering a Child | 5 years | 12.01(4)(D) |
| Insurance Fraud | 5 years | 12.01(4)(E) |
| Theft (up to $1500) | 2 years | 12.02 |