Key Takeaways
- Indiana law sets no filing deadline for murder charges, no matter how many years pass.
- Level 1 felony rape, involving deadly force or serious injury, also carries no filing deadline.
- Most felony offenses in Indiana carry a five-year filing window under existing state law today.
- Concealing evidence connected to a crime or fleeing the state can pause an existing filing deadline.
- DNA evidence can extend the filing window for certain rape cases beyond the standard period.
Our Indianapolis criminal defense attorneys team at Banks & Brower has represented clients across Indiana whose cases resurfaced years, even decades, after the alleged offense occurred. That possibility often surprises people who assume criminal charges expire after a set number of years. For most offenses in Indiana, a filing window does close after a set period passes. A small group of the state’s most serious offenses fall into a different category entirely. Understanding which crimes with no statute of limitations exist under Indiana law, and why lawmakers carved out this exception, matters for anyone facing questions about an old case, a reopened investigation, or a charge connected to conduct from long ago.
Contact your Criminal Defense Lawyers in Indianapolis
call us: 317-870-0019Understanding the Statute of Limitations in Indiana
A statute of limitations sets the outer limit on how long prosecutors have to file formal charges after an alleged crime occurs. Indiana treats misdemeanors and felonies differently under its criminal statute of limitations, with misdemeanor charges generally filed within two years of the alleged offense. Most felony charges carry a five-year filing window, covering everything from theft to many drug offenses. Once that window closes, prosecutors typically lose the ability to bring charges, regardless of new evidence that later surfaces.
Indiana lawmakers built this system around a simple idea. Evidence grows harder to test as time passes, and witness memories fade with each passing year. A defendant should not face prosecution built on stale, unreliable proof. That reasoning holds for most crimes across the state. It gives way, however, when the underlying offense is severe enough that Indiana treats the passage of time as irrelevant to the pursuit of justice.
Crimes That Have No Statute of Limitations
Indiana law removes the filing deadline entirely for a narrow set of offenses. Prosecutors may bring these charges at any point after the crime occurred, even decades later, once sufficient evidence exists:
- Murder: Under Indiana Code 35-42-1-1, a person who knowingly or intentionally kills another human being, or kills during specified felonies such as arson, kidnapping, or robbery, commits murder. No filing deadline applies, regardless of how much time has passed since the killing took place.
- Level 1 felony rape: Under Indiana Code 35-42-4-1, rape becomes a Level 1 felony when committed using or threatening deadly force, while armed with a deadly weapon, or when it results in serious bodily injury to the victim. This elevated offense carries no filing deadline at all.
- Other Class A, Level 1, and Level 2 felonies: Indiana law extends the same unlimited filing window to additional high-level felonies, reflecting the severity lawmakers assign to this narrow offense tier.
Standard Level 3 felony rape, the version charged without those aggravating factors, still carries its own filing window rather than an unlimited one. The distinction between offense levels genuinely changes how a case proceeds from the earliest stage forward.
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When Can the Statute of Limitations Be Extended?
Even for crimes that carry a standard filing deadline, several circumstances can pause or extend that window under Indiana law. Lawmakers recognized that some defendants take active steps to avoid prosecution, and the filing clock should not reward that conduct.
A filing deadline pauses while a defendant is not publicly living in Indiana or is actively concealing themselves from law enforcement officers. It also pauses when a defendant conceals evidence connected to the offense, provided prosecutors could not have discovered that evidence through reasonable diligence at the time. Certain rape charges include a separate extension tied to scientific evidence. When DNA testing later produces evidence sufficient to identify an offender, or a recording surfaces that supports the charge, prosecutors may file within a set number of years after that discovery, even if the original filing window already closed months or years earlier. This extension exists precisely because forensic testing has advanced well beyond what investigators could rely on when many older cases were first opened.
Why the Statute of Limitations Matters in Criminal Cases
The filing deadline shapes far more than paperwork. It determines whether a case can proceed at all, regardless of how strong the evidence eventually becomes once investigators reopen a file. For defendants, a closed filing window offers real protection against charges built on decades-old memories or degraded evidence. For victims and prosecutors, the absence of a deadline for crimes such as murder or aggravated rape means that new forensic technology or a break in an investigation can still deliver accountability long after a case first went cold, which is why staying alert to how to know if a case is being built against you matters even years after the alleged conduct.
This distinction also shapes legal strategy from the earliest stage of a case. A charge filed close to or after a standard deadline may open the door to a dismissal motion, while a charge tied to one of the crimes with no statute of limitations removes that defense entirely, no matter how the timeline looks on paper. Knowing which category applies to a specific charge changes how a defense takes shape, how quickly action becomes necessary, and how a legal team approaches the evidence from day one.
Banks & Brower has experience handling cases based on old allegations in Marion County, Hamilton County, Madison County, Boone County and in counties throughout all of indiana. For example in a case in Madison County, Indiana an attorney at Banks & Brower was able to get multiple counts of financial fraud dismissed based on the statute of limitations.
Contact Banks & Brower, your Indiana Criminal Defense Lawyers Today
Facing a charge tied to an old case, a reopened investigation, or a serious offense raises questions that deserve direct answers. Banks & Brower reviews the timeline of every case and examines whether a filing deadline applies to the facts involved. Crimes with no statute of limitations carry consequences that do not fade with time, and an early, informed defense can shape how a case unfolds from the first hearing through sentencing. Call us at (317) 870-0019 today to discuss your case with our team.
