California has no single criminal filing deadline for every allegation called domestic violence. A domestic battery charge under Penal Code § 243(e)(1) generally has a one-year period under § 802(a). For corporal injury under § 273.5, the current special rule permits prosecution within seven years of the crime, but its start-date conditions matter for older conduct (§ 803.7). The actual charge, alleged act date, any applicable exclusion of time, and the date prosecution legally began decide whether a count is timely.
| Alleged charge | Starting point for the criminal deadline |
|---|---|
| Domestic battery, § 243(e)(1) | This offense is punishable by up to one year in county jail, so the ordinary one-year rule for an offense not punishable by state prison or a felony term under § 1170(h) generally applies. Check a specific exception or toll before concluding it ran (§§ 243(e)(1), 802(a), 803). |
| Corporal injury, § 273.5 | The current special period is seven years, provided § 803.7’s effective-date rule covers the alleged act. The five-year version and, for still earlier acts, the prior period must be checked first (§ 803.7; SB 273 (2019)). |
These are different offenses, even if a police report uses the same “DV” label for both. Section 273.5 requires a qualifying corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition; § 243(e)(1) addresses battery against a listed domestic partner. The relationship between the people involved can also affect which statute fits. The deadline belongs to the offense, not the report label. A § 273.5 charge filed as a misdemeanor does not automatically become a one-year case: § 805(a) looks to the punishment the statute allows, regardless of what the prosecutor seeks. A necessarily included lesser offense keeps its own limitation period under § 805(b).
For an older § 273.5 allegation, check both changeover dates
California added a five-year filing period for § 273.5 effective January 1, 2020. It applied to conduct on or after that date and to earlier conduct only when the previously applicable period had not elapsed by January 1, 2020 (SB 273, ch. 546 (2019)). Before that change, § 273.5’s prison-punishable offense generally fell under the three-year rule in § 801, read with § 805(a); any claimed toll still needs review.
Effective January 1, 2025, the Legislature changed the § 273.5 period to seven years. The new rule covers conduct on or after that date and earlier conduct only if the prior period had not elapsed as of January 1, 2025 (§ 803.7(b); SB 690, ch. 653 (2024)). Seven years runs from the crime; it is not seven years added to the former five. Neither change revives a prosecution already barred when the new law took effect. The Supreme Court held that a later law cannot constitutionally revive a previously time-barred prosecution in Stogner v. California.
Check when prosecution began, not just when someone reported it
A police report or continuing investigation is not, by itself, the commencement event. Under § 804, prosecution starts when an indictment or information is filed; a misdemeanor complaint is filed; the defendant is arraigned on a felony complaint; or a sufficiently specific arrest or bench warrant is issued. Filing a felony complaint alone is different from the arraignment event named in that statute. An issued qualifying warrant can matter even if the person has not yet appeared.
Time can also be excluded from the count under § 803(b), (d): for example, while a prosecution of the same person for the same conduct was pending in a California court, or while the defendant was outside California, subject to a three-year cap for out-of-state time. Those provisions require actual dates and facts. A report made years after an alleged incident does not itself restart the ordinary battery or § 273.5 clock.
Build a count-by-count timeline
For an investigation or filed case, put these five items side by side:
- Each proposed or filed statute and subdivision. Ask whether the allegation is § 243(e)(1), § 273.5, or a different offense arising from the same events. If injury is disputed, the separate strangulation and traumatic-condition discussion may help identify the issue; it does not decide the charging deadline.
- The alleged date of each act, or the full range if dates are uncertain. Do not substitute the date of the police report.
- The applicable period on those dates. For § 273.5 conduct predating a change in the law, check the applicable transition: whether the prior period remained open on January 1, 2020 for pre-2020 conduct, and on January 1, 2025 for pre-2025 conduct. An already expired period is not made timely by the later change.
- Any claimed exclusion or extension, backed by records of an earlier California case, time outside the state, or another identified statute. Do not assume one applies from the age of the allegation alone.
- The earliest qualifying § 804 event and its date: charging paper, arraignment record, or qualifying warrant. If no case has been filed, that event may still be unknown.
The Law Offices of David S. Chesley can review those dates and records against the alleged charge and discuss what the timeline means for a California case. Call (800) 755-5174.