2014 Arkansas Code
Title 5 - Criminal Offenses
Subtitle 1 - General Provisions
Chapter 1 - General Provisions
§ 5-1-109 - Statute of limitations.

(a) (1) A prosecution for the following offenses may be commenced at any time:

(A) Capital murder, § 5-10-101;

(B) Murder in the first degree, § 5-10-102;

(C) Murder in the second degree, § 5-10-103;

(D) Rape, § 5-14-103, if the victim was a minor at the time of the offense;

(E) Sexual indecency with a child, § 5-14-110;

(F) Sexual assault in the first degree, § 5-14-124;

(G) Sexual assault in the second degree, § 5-14-125, if the victim was a minor at the time of the offense;

(H) Incest, § 5-26-202, if the victim was a minor at the time of the offense;

(I) Engaging children in sexually explicit conduct for use in visual or print medium, § 5-27-303;

(J) Transportation of minors for prohibited sexual conduct, § 5-27-305;

(K) Employing or consenting to the use of a child in a sexual performance, § 5-27-402;

(L) Producing, directing, or promoting a sexual performance by a child, § 5-27-403; and

(M) Computer exploitation of a child in the first degree, § 5-27-605.

(2) A prosecution may be commenced for a violation of the following offenses, if, when the alleged violation occurred, the offense was committed against a minor, the violation has not been previously reported to a law enforcement agency or prosecuting attorney, and the victim has not reached the age of twenty-eight (28) years of age:

(A) Sexual assault in the third degree, § 5-14-126;

(B) Sexual assault in the fourth degree, § 5-14-127;

(C) Endangering the welfare of a minor in the first degree, § 5-27-205;

(D) Permitting abuse of a minor, § 5-27-221; and

(E) Computer child pornography, § 5-27-603.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in this section, a prosecution for another offense shall be commenced within the following periods of limitation after the offense's commission:

(1) (A) Class Y felony or Class A felony, six (6) years.

(B) However, for rape, § 5-14-103, the period of limitation is eliminated if biological evidence of the alleged perpetrator is identified that is capable of producing a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) profile;

(2) Class B felony, Class C felony, Class D felony, or an unclassified felony, three (3) years;

(3) (A) Misdemeanor or violation, one (1) year.

(B) However, for failure to notify by a mandated reporter in the first degree, § 12-18-201, and failure to notify by a mandated reporter in the second degree, § 12-18-202, the period of limitation is ten (10) years after the child victim reaches eighteen (18) years of age if the child in question was subject to child maltreatment; and

(4) Municipal ordinance violation, one (1) year unless a different period of time not to exceed three (3) years is set by ordinance of the municipal government.

(c) If the period prescribed in subsection (b) of this section has expired, a prosecution may nevertheless be commenced for:

(1) Any offense involving either fraud or breach of a fiduciary obligation, within one (1) year after the offense is discovered or should reasonably have been discovered by an aggrieved party or by a person who has a legal duty to represent an aggrieved party and who is himself or herself not a party to the offense; and

(2) (A) Any offense that is concealed involving felonious conduct in office by a public servant at any time within five (5) years after he or she leaves public office or employment or within five (5) years after the offense is discovered or should reasonably have been discovered, whichever is sooner.

(B) However, in no event does this subdivision (c)(2) extend the period of limitation by more than ten (10) years after the commission of the offense.

(d) A defendant may be convicted of any offense included in the offense charged, notwithstanding that the period of limitation has expired for the included offense, if as to the offense charged the period of limitation has not expired or there is no period of limitation, and there is sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction for the offense charged.

(e) (1) For the purposes of this section, an offense is committed either when:

(A) Every element occurs; or

(B) If a legislative purpose to prohibit a continuing course of conduct plainly appears, at the time the course of conduct or the defendant's complicity in the course of conduct is terminated.

(2) Time starts to run on the day after the offense is committed.

(f) A prosecution is commenced when an arrest warrant or other process is issued based on an indictment, information, or other charging instrument if the arrest warrant or other process is sought to be executed without unreasonable delay.

(g) The period of limitation does not run:

(1) (A) During any time when the accused is continually absent from the state or has no reasonably ascertainable place of abode or work within the state.

(B) However, in no event does this subdivision (g)(1) extend the period of limitation otherwise applicable by more than three (3) years; or

(2) During any period when a prosecution against the accused for the same conduct is pending in this state.

(h) If the period prescribed in subsection (b) of this section has expired, a prosecution may nevertheless be commenced for a violation of the following offenses if, when the alleged violation occurred, the offense was committed against a minor, the violation has not previously been reported to a law enforcement agency or prosecuting attorney, and the period prescribed in subsection (b) of this section has not expired since the victim has reached eighteen (18) years of age:

(1) Battery in the first degree, § 5-13-201;

(2) Battery in the second degree, § 5-13-202;

(3) Aggravated assault, § 5-13-204;

(4) Terroristic threatening in the first degree, § 5-13-301;

(5) Kidnapping, § 5-11-102;

(6) False imprisonment in the first degree, § 5-11-103;

(7) Permanent detention or restraint, § 5-11-106; and

(8) Criminal attempt, criminal solicitation, or criminal conspiracy to commit any offense listed in this subsection, §§ 5-3-201, 5-3-202, 5-3-301, and 5-3-401.

(i) If there is biological evidence connecting a person with the commission of an offense and that person's identity is unknown, the prosecution is commenced if an indictment or information is filed against the unknown person and the indictment contains the genetic information of the unknown person and the genetic information is accepted to be likely to be applicable only to the unknown person.

(j) When deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing implicates a person previously identified through a search of the State DNA Data Base or National DNA Index System, a statute of limitation shall not preclude prosecution of the offense.