Orange County Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

When you get arrested or you bail out you are given a date to appear in court. When you are given a citation you are given a specific date to appear in court. The police are supposed to submit their reports to the prosecutor or city attorney in enough time for them to review the case so that everybody is ready to proceed on the day in question. But what happens if you show up at the court house and your name is not on the calendar?

You can go to the clerk of the criminal court and double check. If your name isn’t on the list then the clerk will send you to the DA’s office or the City Attorney’s office (whichever is the prosecuting agency). There, the DA or City Attorney will tell you one of 4 things:

1. The case was rejected, which means no charges will be filed against you.

Normally, criminal charges are filed promptly. However, for a misdemeanor crime, the statute of limitations or the time limit within which the district attorney MUST file charges, is one year from the date of arrest. There are many reasons that the charges may not be filed in a timely manner by the prosecutor’s office, but unless a year has passed you are still subject to having charges filed against you unless they are formally dismissed by the district attorney’s office.

For a felony, which is a serious crime that carries a penalty of a at least 16 months in state prison, the time frames can differ depending on the crime. Generally it is 3 years from the date of arrest but there are many exceptions. For example the statute of limitations for fraud is 4 years from the discovery of the fraud. In a serious felony the time frame can be much longer than 4 years and for the most serious of crimes, murder, there is no statute of limitations. That’s why cold cases can be filed years or even decades later.

If you think charges may be filed against you, it is best to see an experienced criminal defense lawyer immediately. There are instances where prompt investigation and intervention can either lessen the severity of the charges filed or even result in the case not being filed in the first place.