How long does a state have to file criminal charges?
Whitney S. Boan Protecting Your Right
Video Transcript
The state has until either the statute of limitations has expired, which varies by each charge, or until this period of speedy trial has run, which varies whether or not it’s a misdemeanor or a felony offense, to file a charge. If you’re incarcerated and you haven’t bonded out impending trial, they have 33 days to file charges against you before you are automatically released on your own recognizance; or at least we can ask the judge to automatically released on your own recognizance. If they don’t file the charge within that 33 days, it doesn’t make your case go away, but it may cause you to be released if you’re being held in jail up until that point in time. Otherwise, it varies per charge.