Statute of Limitations for Criminal Charges in Minnesota

You may not realize that there is a statute of limitations period by which the State must bring an indictment or criminal complaint against an individual. Minn. Stat. 628.26 lists out the applicable statute of limitations for each type of crime.

There is no limitation period (meaning an indictment or charge may be brought at any point during the life of the defendant) for the following crimes:

• Any crime resulting in the death of the victim
• Kidnapping
• Labor trafficking of an individual under the age of 18

There is a 6-year limitations period that starts after the commission of the following crimes:

• Labor trafficking of an individual over the age of 18
• Certain bribery offenses
• Medical assistance fraud
• Medical care/assistance theft

There is a 5-year limitations period that starts after the commission of the following crimes:

• Arson
• Check forgery (when value of property or services stolen is more than $35,000)
• False representation (when value of property or services stolen is more than $35,000)
• Theft by swindle (when value of property or services stolen is more than $35,000)
• Corporate theft (when value of property or services stolen is more than $35,000)
• Financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult (when value of property or services stolen is more than $35,000)
• Credit card fraud (when value of property or services stolen is more than $35,000)

[EDITOR’S NOTE: A new law has changed the statute of limitations period for sex crimes. Read more here.] For 1st-4th degree criminal sexual conduct crimes where the victim was under the age of 18 at the time of the offense, there are two potential limitations periods. The limitation period that applies is the shorter of a 9-years from when the offense was committed or 3-years from when the offense was reported to the police. Still, this limitations period may not apply when there is physical evidence collected and preserved that is capable of being tested for its DNA characteristics. Under this scenario, there is no limitations period.

If the crime was not listed above, the statute of limitations period is 3-years.

It’s important to note that the limitations period does not count time during which the individual was not an inhabitant of or usually resident within this state. The period also does not run for any period of time during which physical evidence relating to the offense was undergoing DNA analysis, unless it can be proven that the prosecuting or law enforcement agency was purposefully delaying the DNA analysis process to buy more time.