§ 625:8 — Limitations

New Hampshire § 625:8

• Jurisdiction: New Hampshire
• Title LXII: CRIMINAL CODE
• Ch. 625: PRELIMINARY

Text

I. Except as otherwise provided in this section, prosecutions are subject to the following periods of limitations:
(a) For a class A felony, 6 years;
(b) For a class B felony, 6 years;
(c) For a misdemeanor, one year;
(d) For a violation, 3 months.
(e) For an offense defined by RSA 282-A, 6 years.
(f) For an offense defined in RSA 638:1, III-a, 2 years.
II. Murder may be prosecuted at any time.
II-a. [Repealed.]
III. If the period prescribed in paragraph I has expired, a prosecution may nevertheless be commenced:
(a) Within one year after its discovery by an aggrieved party or by a person who has a duty to represent such person and who is himself not a party to the offense for a theft where possession of the property was lawfully obtained and subsequently misappropriated or for any offense, a material element of which is either fraud or a breach of fiduciary duty.
(b) For any offense based upon misconduct in office by a public servant, at any time when the defendant is in public office or within 2 years thereafter.
(c) For any offense under RSA 208, RSA 210, or RSA 215, within 3 years thereafter.
(d) For any offense under RSA 632-A or for an offense under RSA 639:2, where the victim was under 18 years of age when the alleged offense occurred, within 22 years of the victim's eighteenth birthday.
(e) For any offense where destruction or falsification of evidence, witness tampering, or other unlawful conduct delayed discovery of the offense, within one year of the discovery of the offense.
(f) For any offense under RSA 153:24 and RSA 153:5, the state fire code, within one year of its discovery.
(g) For any offense under RSA 641:1 through 641:7, if committed with the purpose to assist in a murder, to conceal a murder, or to conceal or hinder the investigation or apprehension of an individual responsible for murder, at any time.
(h) For any violation-level offense involving a motor vehicle accident resulting in death or serious bodily injury, within 6 months of the accident.
(i) For any offense under RSA 633:7, within 20 years, except where the victim was under 18 years of age when the alleged offense occurred, in which case within 20 years of the victim's eighteenth birthday.
IV. Time begins to run on the day after all elements of an offense have occurred or, in the case of an offense comprised of a continuous course of conduct, on the day after that conduct or the defendant's complicity therein terminates.
V. A prosecution is commenced on the day when a warrant or other process is issued, an indictment returned, or an information is filed, whichever is the earliest.
VI. The period of limitations does not run:
(a) During any time when the accused is continuously absent from the state or has no reasonably ascertained place of abode or work within this state; or
(b) During any time when a prosecution is pending against the accused in this state based on the same conduct.

Legislative History

1971, 518:1. 1973, 370:45. 1989, 97:1. 1990, 153:2; 213:2. 1993, 215:3. 2000, 173:1. 2003, 265:3. 2007, 183:1. 2009, 100:1. 2012, 208:1. 2014, 257:4, eff. Oct. 23, 2014. 2019, 281:2, eff. Sept. 17, 2019.