Tucson, AZ asked in Criminal Law for Arizona

Q: once you are indicted when or how long does the court or the state have to prosecute?

Plus when should the prosecutor have my disclosure ready. Its been almost a year since the intial arrest but i was indicted, it was filed may 2016. i wasnt arrest on the warranty until dec 2016. I have showed for every appearance even the JP appearance and they still issues a secret indictment, i really dont understand why. I feel like if they were doing there job there shouldnt been an indictment because they would have know i was appearing. Please help me

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1 Lawyer Answer
Matthew Maerowitz
PREMIUM
Matthew Maerowitz
Answered
  • Criminal Law Lawyer
  • Phoenix, AZ
  • Licensed in Arizona

A: The State must file charges within the statute of limitations. For misdemeanors the statute of limitations is 1 year. For felonies the statute of limitations is 7 years (and in some cases longer). However, it is unclear what you are referring to based on your question as it sounds like the charges had already been filed.

You do have the right to a speedy trial, which is separate. That basically says once the charges are filed you can assert your speedy trial rights under Rule 8 and request a trial to be set within a certain amount of time. A lot of time though may be considered excluded from Rule 8 time such as time to allow defense discovery and in your case it appears you had failed to appear, which would waive time.

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