Too old to go to court?

A lot of people wonder how old does a case have to be before it's too old to go to court or if that concept even exists. Well, it does, but it depends. First of all, this concept of a case being "too old" is known as the statute of limitations. All court cases, both civil and criminal, must comply with this statute. This means the case simply must be filed, not disposed of, before the statute runs. Meaning it has to begin, not end, before that time period.  Most criminal cases are filed within a matter of months of the alleged incident, so this is rarely ever an issue.


Here is a fun example. Four years ago Joe Bob is speeding down the highway with drugs in his car. He gets pulled over for speeding and when asked why he is going so fast he says because he just killed a man after stealing the man's drugs and he needs to get away. He never says another word. No case is ever filed. All of the offenses are past the limitations period except of course, the supposed murder. If one of the other cases are filed, then his defense attorney will probably raise the issue in a pre-trial motion to dismiss.

Picture the same scenario, except all the cases are filed six months later. Joe Bob flees the country for four years. Here the cases were filed timely, so the statute will not run, and when Joe Bob comes back, prosecution will continue as if he never left.

In case you are wondering, here is a basic list of the Statute of Limitations for most offenses in Texas. If the one in particular you are concerned about is not listed, you would probably best be served by checking the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure or better yet, by contacting your favorite criminal defense attorney.

Class C Misdemeanors - Two Years

Traffic tickets and other similar fine only offenses are usually Class C Misdemeanors. The complaint must be filed within two years of the alleged offense.

Class A & B Misdemeanors - Two Years

All Misdemeanor offenses including DWI, marijuana possession, assault family violence, and etc. The complaint and information must be filed within two years of the alleged offense.

Felonies - Three Years

All other felonies, except for those listed below have a three year statute of limitations. This includes most felony drug offenses.

Felonies - Five Years

Felony theft, burglary, robbery, insurance fraud, kidnapping, abandoning or endangering a child, and injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual that is not punishable as a first degree felony. (See below.)

Felonies - Seven Years

Certain Texas Tax Code violations, misapplication of fiduciary property or property of a financial institution, and securing execution of document by deception all have seven year limitations.

Felonies - Ten Years

Arson, forgery, theft of any estate by an executor/administrator, theft of government property by a public servant, and injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual when punishable as a first degree felony under Section 22.04 of the Penal Code. Sexual assault is limited at ten years, unless there is DNA evidence or if the victim is under 18. (See below.)

Felonies - Ten Years From the 18th Birthday of the victim

These crimes involve victims under the age of 18, so they don't even begin to run until the victim turns 18. Specifically, indecency with a child, sexual assault under Section 22.011(a)(2) of the Penal Code, or aggravated sexual assault under Section 22.021(a)(1)(B) of the Penal Code.

Felonies - No Statute of Limitation

These offenses are considered to be so heinous, that it is never too late to prosecute. Specifically murder/manslaugther, sexual assault with DNA evidence, and leaving the scene of an accident that results in death.

Silence is Golden; More so than the "Golden Rule"

We have all seen the cop shows on TV and we all probably know the Miranda rights nearly by heart because of those shows. You have the right to remain silent; You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you. Ironically it seems that when these rights matter most, we tend to forget they apply to us and not just the crooks on TV. Ron White may have said it best in his monologue, "I had the right to remain silent, but I didn't have the ability." One of the things I see most often is criminal clients voluntarily helping the cops build a case against them.

Growing up we all had parents that knew a lot more about getting into trouble then they obviously let on to us. They seems to know who broke the lamp in the living room and the old "the dog did it" alibi never seemed to work. They seemed to always be one step ahead. Eventually they taught us that if we cooperate and simply come clean we would get in less trouble then if we did not. So, usually we would simply admit our wrong doing and settle for a week of grounding instead of two. Sadly, this idea works well in the teenage suburbia homestead, but it does not translate to the real world.

Case in point, 19 year old kid gets stopped for speeding, he has marijuana in a backpack on the floor board of the back seat. Officer writes the ticket, hands it to the kid, and simply asks, "is there anything else I should know about?" before walking back to his car ready to pull over the next unsuspecting victim. A good honest kid, will likely feel a little bit guilty and may, as I have seen too many times before, tell the cop about the weed in the backpack. He will then be arrested and charged with a misdemeanor offence facing jail time, a substantial fine, and a license suspension here in Texas. On the other hand, a dishonest kid, who possibly has a checkered past, will not think twice, will keep his mouth shut, and will be on his merry way.

This does not hardly seem fair. The honest kid who does what every parent tries to teach their children, comes clean and cooperates to the fullest, gets the worst of it and faces serious consequences all while the dishonest kid gets away. It does not seem right. The legal system does not reward honesty, it incarcerates it, while the guilty go free?

Please do not misunderstand my message. I am certainly not telling you to teach your kids to lie to the cops or not cooperate. Remember, same scenario for both kids. Both kids are technically guilty, but only the kid who tells the cop about the weed gets in trouble. The kid who keep his mouth shut stays free. If you look back I said the honest kid MAY come clean, he also MAY keep his mouth shut, and go on his merry way. This is what he should do.

It is important to teach our kids honesty, truthfulness, and all of these great and honorable qualities. But it is equally important to teach them their rights. They do not need to learn after they are in jail and talking to an attorney all they had to do was keep their mouth shut and they would not be here. They need to KNOW that, now.

Do not wait for the cops to tell you your rights, just shut the hell up. Do cooperate, but make them do their job. They will NOT go easy on you if you make it easy on them. The consequences and likely the outcome will be the exact same whether you cooperate and tell the cop where the weed is, or if you make him bring out a drug dog, sniff the car, and then he searches it and finds it all on his own. Besides, usually it is not even up to the cops to "go easy on you," it is up to the DA's office and they do not care that you did the cops job for them. They only care that you made their job easy too and they sure as hell are not going to give up an easy "win" because you were stupid.

Bottom line: You have the right to remain silent. Use it!

What you can expect to find in my Legal Rants

I have never "blogged" before and sadly, I too have never been very good at writing my thoughts down in a journal. I attempted a few times when I was a kid, but usually, those attempts faded within a matter of days or even weeks if I was extra diligent. I really want this experience to be different than those in the past. My goal is to share my thoughts, my experiences, and hopefully and possibly more importantly, the expertise and experience of others who probably have more than I.

So, if you have read this far, you may be asking yourself, "What am I going get out of reading this blog?" Here is what I hope to bring the you, the readers of said blog. My goal is to share with you those things that I wish my clients knew BEFORE they got themselves into trouble. I hope to enlighten you, my readers, with insight as to how to avoid horrible legal (sometimes illegal) situations or more importantly what to do if such a situation is thrust upon you. My aim is to share the lessons I have learned, those my clients are learning, and those that my numerous colleagues in the world of law have cared to share with me. Hell, I may even answer "legal" questions that you post for me, I am not sure yet. Seriously, do not get your hopes up, I said might. Often times, I assume often, as I have not fully begun yet, I will share with you not just legal tips, but my personal insight on things political, social, and maybe even religious, but I am not 100% about that just yet. My aim is not only to be slightly educational, but also to be entertaining, because after all, I want you to read the damn thing, I am not writing this for my health you know, and heaven knows if you do not like it, you won't read it. Lastly, I hope that you will find my blog useful and that you will share it with others, so please, if you read this far, subscribe now and tell someone else about it even if you think it is bunk, who knows they might like it.

Well, thanks for trusting me with your time thus far and allowing me the opportunity to rant just a bit. I hope that you will continue that trust in the future and will look for more things that I will post. I cannot say how often I will be posting and really, given my track record in the past with journals and what not, I cannot even promise that there will be another post. (Ok, actually I can, I already have a few ideas in mind.) So be sure to subscribe and read as often as you can. There are not many guarantees in life, but I can guarantee you will enjoy what you read. If you are not 100% satisfied with my blog, you can return it and I will let you stop reading. That's a promise in writing.

Final thoughts on what you can expect in my blog. Please understand, I have no intentions of changing your mind on any specific issues and I am not looking for a fight. If you like what I have to say great, if not, equally great, well sort of, not quite equally, I will probably think you are an idiot for disagreeing with me, but you will likely already think I am an idiot for what I said so I guess that makes us even. I am not yet certain how the whole comment, replies, or whatever else there is works yet, but I hope you chose to participate in my new experience with me. So, please do, tell me what you think, what you want to hear about, how much you agree with me, or not, hopefully not many of those. Oh yeah, and blogging tips, tell me about those too. I am really going to try to take this thing seriously, so I hope you will too.

-Joshua