Once a case has been prosecuted, when is the prosecution limitation period treated as complete if no judgment becomes final?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file we check the date the prosecution was commenced, shown on the indictment or the record of its filing, and the current state of the case, such as whether a judgment has become final or proceedings are still pending without one.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the period at face value: where an indictment has been brought, if the period this paragraph sets passes from the time of that prosecution without a final judgment, the prosecution limitation period is deemed complete, regardless of the period the first paragraph would set for the offence.
Another reading notes that the deeming rule is anchored to the moment prosecution was commenced and is displaced once a judgment becomes final, so the record must fix both that starting date and whether any final judgment exists, which this provision leaves open as to what counts as final.
Your judgment
If the case file does not record the exact date prosecution was commenced, how could that date be proved for the purpose of this deeming rule?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the period set in this paragraph or its starting event is amended, or if a court decision clarifies what counts as a final judgment displacing this deeming rule.