Q: Can Illinois charge an offense for an instance after subject was given a warning? And is there a statute of limitations?
Was pulled over in a terry stop and was given a warning on Thanksgiving 2016 in Madison County. Officer gave me a warning and let me go. I'm wondering about the backlash if there is one
A:
Hello Asker,
Yes, technically there is no obligation to have the ticket issued within a set period of time. There are restrictions surrounding the court date for that ticket (14-60 days after issuance) and the time for delivering that ticket to the circuit clerk (48 hours I believe) but there is no restriction on how long after an incident a citation is written. I do VAGUELY remember something about limitations on officers taking action on incidents for which they wrote a warning but I think that only applied to arrests subject to incidents (for example - can't arrest someone for something you merely wrote a warning for). Don't take my word on that. It has been over 5 years since I read the case where this vague memory is coming from.
With that said, when an officer gives a warning, it is highly unlikely that they would subsequently issue a ticket. The only time this will happen is when circumstances arise that give the reason to issue more citations. One such example is getting test results back that show drugs were present and subsequently writing a DUI ticket. I have personally seen an officer do this.
While that power does exist, it is very unlikely to happen. Remember, by writing a ticket, they are acknowledging that they will be able to testify to those facts in court. For an officer who stopped some guy for a random forgettable offense nearly a year ago, it is unlikely they can competently testify to that. Not to mention your use of the "Terry Stop" in your question makes me think that an officer, if they happened to remember this incident, would likely have perceived that you were the type of individual to be more likely to go to trial making remembering the facts all the more important.
So, to answer your question: yes, there is no restriction but in practical terms, it is rare that officers write warnings that later result in tickets save for evidence of much larger crimes emerging and then only if the incident is sufficiently fresh in their memory.
Hope that helps and let us know if you have any questions!
Sincerely,
Jason A. Wilkins
Traffic Attorney
(630) 445-2293
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