Chicago, IL asked in Criminal Law, Federal Crimes, Juvenile Law and Sexual Harassment for Arizona

Q: A teenager molested a child for three years straight 6 years ago, Is there hope to get justice for that now? Arizona.

The Child was 8 and the Teen was 13 when it began. The last time it happened was when the child was 11 and the Teen was 16. It happened 6yrs ago so the child is 17 now and the teen should be 22. The dude has a young daughter now and we’re so scared he might do something to her. We don’t know if there’s hope we don’t know if we can save her. We don’t know if he’s going to get away with it either...please we just need some kind of hope. Clarifying Arizona laws on such could also be a great help!

2 Lawyer Answers
Zachary Divelbiss
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Answered

A: If you are reporting a crime, you need to contact your local law enforcement agency.

Arizona felonies have a statute of limitations of seven years. However, certain crimes, such as this, may fall into a certain category where there is no statute of limitations. I will not go into further details over a public forum about the specifics of this legal question and answer.

A: This is correct, there is a general statute of limitations for felonies in Arizona of 7 years. However, as pointed out above, there are exceptions to this rule. For example, A.R.S. 13-107(A) states, " A prosecution for any homicide, any conspiracy to commit homicide that results in the death of a person, any offense that is listed in chapter 14 or 35.1 of this title and that is a class 2 felony, any violent sexual assault pursuant to section 13-1423, any violation of section 13-2308.01 or 13-2308.03, any misuse of public monies or a felony involving falsification of public records or any attempt to commit an offense listed in this subsection may be commenced at any time."

Whether the situation you describe falls under this exception or not would require a more in-depth discussion of the facts. A detective at your local law enforcement agency may be able to assist.

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