BILL REQ. #: S-3116.1
State of Washington | 61st Legislature | 2009 Regular Session |
AN ACT Relating to criminal statute of limitations; and reenacting and amending RCW 9A.04.080.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 9A.04.080 and 2009 c 53 s 1 and 2009 c 61 s 1 are each
reenacted and amended to read as follows:
(((1))) Prosecutions for criminal offenses ((shall not)) may be
commenced at any time after ((the periods prescribed in this section))
their commission.
(((a) The following offenses may be prosecuted at any time after
their commission:))
(i) Murder;
(ii) Homicide by abuse;
(iii) Arson if a death results;
(iv) Vehicular homicide;
(v) Vehicular assault if a death results;
(vi) Hit-and-run injury-accident if a death results (RCW
46.52.020(4)).
(b) The following offenses shall not be prosecuted more than ten
years after their commission:
(i) Any felony committed by a public officer if the commission is
in connection with the duties of his or her office or constitutes a
breach of his or her public duty or a violation of the oath of office;
(ii) Arson if no death results; or
(iii)(A) Violations of RCW 9A.44.040 or 9A.44.050 if the rape is
reported to a law enforcement agency within one year of its commission;
except that if the victim is under fourteen years of age when the rape
is committed and the rape is reported to a law enforcement agency
within one year of its commission, the violation may be prosecuted up
to the victim's twenty-eighth birthday.
(B) If a violation of RCW 9A.44.040 or 9A.44.050 is not reported
within one year, the rape may not be prosecuted: (I) More than three
years after its commission if the violation was committed against a
victim fourteen years of age or older; or (II) more than three years
after the victim's eighteenth birthday or more than seven years after
the rape's commission, whichever is later, if the violation was
committed against a victim under fourteen years of age.
(c) Violations of the following statutes may be prosecuted up to
the victim's twenty-eighth birthday: RCW 9A.44.073, 9A.44.076,
9A.44.083, 9A.44.086, 9A.44.070, 9A.44.080, 9A.44.100(1)(b), 9A.44.079,
9A.44.089, or 9A.64.020.
(d) The following offenses shall not be prosecuted more than six
years after their commission or their discovery, whichever occurs
later:
(i) Violations of RCW 9A.82.060 or 9A.82.080;
(ii) Any felony violation of chapter 9A.83 RCW;
(iii) Any felony violation of chapter 9.35 RCW; or
(iv) Theft in the first or second degree under chapter 9A.56 RCW
when accomplished by color or aid of deception.
(e) The following offenses shall not be prosecuted more than five
years after their commission: Any class C felony under chapter 74.09,
82.36, or 82.38 RCW.
(f) Bigamy shall not be prosecuted more than three years after the
time specified in RCW 9A.64.010.
(g) A violation of RCW 9A.56.030 must not be prosecuted more than
three years after the discovery of the offense when the victim is a tax
exempt corporation under 26 U.S.C. Sec. 501(c)(3).
(h) No other felony may be prosecuted more than three years after
its commission; except that in a prosecution under RCW 9A.44.115, if
the person who was viewed, photographed, or filmed did not realize at
the time that he or she was being viewed, photographed, or filmed, the
prosecution must be commenced within two years of the time the person
who was viewed or in the photograph or film first learns that he or she
was viewed, photographed, or filmed.
(i) No gross misdemeanor may be prosecuted more than two years
after its commission.
(j) No misdemeanor may be prosecuted more than one year after its
commission.
(2) The periods of limitation prescribed in subsection (1) of this
section do not run during any time when the person charged is not
usually and publicly resident within this state.
(3) In any prosecution for a sex offense as defined in RCW
9.94A.030, the periods of limitation prescribed in subsection (1) of
this section run from the date of commission or one year from the date
on which the identity of the suspect is conclusively established by
deoxyribonucleic acid testing, whichever is later.
(4) If, before the end of a period of limitation prescribed in
subsection (1) of this section, an indictment has been found or a
complaint or an information has been filed, and the indictment,
complaint, or information is set aside, then the period of limitation
is extended by a period equal to the length of time from the finding or
filing to the setting aside.