§ 131.105 Timeliness of criminal actions

Prosecutors can't wait forever to bring criminal charges. This rule says that a criminal case must be started within a certain time limit, and that time limit depends on the type of crime involved.

The actual deadlines are spelled out in other related rules (ORS 131.125 to 131.155). Depending on how serious the crime is, the time limit could be a couple of years or much longer. Some very serious crimes, like murder, have no time limit at all.

For anyone involved in a criminal case, this matters a lot. If prosecutors try to file charges after the deadline has passed, the case can usually be thrown out. This protects people from having old accusations hang over them forever, and it pushes law enforcement to investigate and charge crimes in a reasonable amount of time.