Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 99 - CRIMINAL PROCEDURE (§§ 99-NEW-001 — 99-51-3) › Chapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS; TIME LIMITATIONS; COSTS (§§ 99-NEW-001 — 99-1-29) › Section 99-1-5 - Time limitation on prosecutions

(1)
(a)
The passage of time shall never bar prosecution against any person for the offenses of murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault, aggravated domestic violence, kidnapping, arson, burglary, forgery, counterfeiting, robbery, larceny, rape, embezzlement, obtaining money or property under false pretenses or by fraud, felonious abuse or battery of a child as described in Section
97-5-39
, touching or handling a child for lustful purposes as described in Section
97-5-23
, sexual battery of a child as described in Section
97-3-95(1)(c), (d) or (2)
, exploitation of children as described in Section
97-5-33
, promoting prostitution under Section
97-29-51(2)
when the person involved is a minor, felonious abuse of vulnerable persons, as described in Section
43-47-18
, sexual battery as described in Section
97-3-95(1)(a) or (b)
when the identity of the accused is later discovered due to results of DNA testing of biological evidence, or any human trafficking offense as described in Section
97-3-54.1(1)(a), (1)(b) or (1)(c)
, Section
97-3-54.2
, or Section
97-3-54.3
.
(b)
A person shall not be prosecuted for felonious assistance-program fraud, as described in Section
97-19-71
, or for felonious abuse of vulnerable persons, as described in Section 43-47-19, unless the prosecution for the offense is commenced within five (5) years after the commission thereof.
(c)
A person shall not be prosecuted for larceny of timber as described in Section
97-17-59
, unless the prosecution for the offense is commenced within six (6) years after the commission thereof.
(d)
The time limitation on prosecution for conspiracy, as described in Section
97-1-1
, shall be the same as for the underlying offense for which the defendant is accused of conspiring to commit.
(e)
A person shall not be prosecuted for bribery as defined in Section
97-11-11
, unless the prosecution for the offense is commenced within five (5) years after the commission thereof.
(2)
A person shall not be prosecuted for any other offense not listed in this section unless the prosecution for the offense is commenced within two (2) years after the commission thereof.
(3)
Nothing contained in this section shall bar any prosecution against any person who shall abscond or flee from justice, or shall absent himself from this state or out of the jurisdiction of the court, or so conduct himself that he cannot be found by the officers of the law, or that process cannot be served upon him.
Codes, Hutchinson's 1848, ch. 65, art. 2(52); 1857, ch. 64, art. 247; 1871, § 2766; 1880, § 3002; 1892, § 1342; 1906, § 1414; Hemingway's 1917, § 1169; 1930, § 1194; 1942, § 2437; Laws, 1912, ch. 261; Laws, 1989, ch. 567, § 1; Laws, 1990, ch. 412, § 1; Laws, 1993, ch. 440, § 1; Laws, 1998, ch. 582, § 1; Laws, 2003, ch. 497, § 1; Laws, 2004, ch. 539, § 1; Laws, 2008, ch. 530, § 1; Laws, 2010, ch. 358, § 1; Laws, 2012, ch. 439, § 3; Laws, 2012, ch. 455, § 1, eff. 7/1/2012.
Amended by Laws, 2024, ch. 519, HB 1323,§ 1, eff. 7/1/2024.
Amended by Laws, 2023, ch. 475, HB 405,§ 1, eff. 7/1/2023.
Amended by Laws, 2023, ch. 378, SB 2337,§ 1, eff. 7/1/2023.
Amended by Laws, 2013, ch. 565, HB 709, 2, eff. 7/1/2013.
Amended by Laws, 2013, ch. 543, HB 673, 18, eff. 7/1/2013.