Statute of Limitations for Class B / 2nd Degree Felony in Wisconsin

Overview

In Wisconsin, the statute of limitations (SOL) sets a deadline for the State to “commence” a criminal prosecution after an alleged offense. For a Class B / 2nd degree felony, the baseline SOL is typically measured in years from the relevant start date determined by Wisconsin law.

DocketMath’s statute-of-limitations tool is designed to help you translate that legal deadline into a practical calendar window—so you can quickly see what a 6-year limit means for specific dates (like the date of the alleged offense and/or the date charges were filed, depending on the input you choose).

Limitation period

For Wisconsin Class B / 2nd degree felony charges, the standard limitation period is 6 years.

Baseline rule: 6 years

Wisconsin’s general SOL provision for felonies provides that prosecutions must generally be started within a set number of years. For the Class B / 2nd degree category described in your brief, the SOL period is 6 years.

What the 6-year clock means in practice

When you’re trying to evaluate SOL timing, the key steps are:

• Identify the offense category (here: Class B / 2nd degree felony).
• Confirm the relevant start date used by the SOL analysis.
• Add 6 years to determine the deadline window.
• Check whether the prosecution was commenced within that window, not just whether the conduct occurred that long ago.

Because the SOL framework can involve timing rules tied to the procedural posture (and sometimes special triggers), your analysis typically benefits from using the exact date fields you have and letting a calculator apply the SOL period consistently.

How DocketMath changes outcomes with different inputs

DocketMath is helpful because changing a single date can shift the outcome:

• If the alleged offense date moves forward by even a month, the computed SOL expiration deadline moves forward too.
• If the commencement/filing date is later, a previously “timely” prosecution can become “outside the limit” once it crosses the 6-year cutoff.
• If you’re comparing scenarios (e.g., multiple alleged incidents), each incident’s date can create a separate SOL expiration date.

The tool’s goal is to make those date-based shifts visible quickly.

Key exceptions

The 6-year period is the baseline, but Wisconsin law includes exceptions and special rules that can alter the effective SOL deadline. Your jurisdiction data flags “exception V2” tied to the 6-year rule.

Because exceptions are where SOL analysis most often diverges from simple calendar math, keep an eye on the following practical issues:

• Whether an exception applies at all. Some exceptions depend on specific conduct, procedural steps, or factual circumstances.
• Whether the exception changes the start date (when the SOL clock begins) or changes the length (how long the clock runs).
• Whether tolling or other adjustments are triggered by events occurring between the offense date and filing.

Common “decision points” to check (without assuming)

When you review a Wisconsin SOL question involving a Class B felony, look for facts that might connect to:

• Events that could affect the SOL start timing.
• Events that could extend or toll the limitation period.
• Whether multiple related offenses or dates are alleged, requiring incident-by-incident analysis.

Exception V2 (as flagged in the jurisdiction data)

Per your provided jurisdiction data, the relevant SOL rule for this category includes an exception V2 alongside the 6-year limitation period. In a DocketMath workflow, this typically means:

• the calculator may need an additional input or selection to reflect the exception scenario; and/or
• the effective expiration date may differ from a plain “+6 years” computation.

If you’re using the calculator, selecting the correct scenario is the difference between a baseline deadline and an adjusted deadline.

Statute citation

Wisconsin’s general limitation period for this category is grounded in:

• Wis. Stat. § 939.74(1) — 6 years (with exception V2 as flagged in the jurisdiction data)
  Source: https://codes.findlaw.com/wi/crimes-ch-938-to-951/wi-st-939-74/

This statutory section is the controlling authority for the 6-year SOL period stated for the relevant felony classification category reflected in your brief.

Use the calculator

You can compute SOL deadlines efficiently using DocketMath’s statute-of-limitations calculator:

• Primary CTA: /tools/statute-of-limitations

What to enter

To produce a useful result, the calculator typically needs dates that anchor the SOL timeline. Use the inputs you have available, such as:

• Date of the alleged offense (often the baseline starting anchor)
• Date prosecution was commenced / charges were filed (to compare timeliness against the SOL expiration date)
• Exception selection (if the scenario applies, including exception V2 as flagged)

How outputs change

Here’s what to expect as you vary inputs:

Practical workflow (fast)

Use this checklist to get a reliable SOL deadline estimate:

Related reading

• Choosing the right statute of limitations tool for Vermont — How to choose the right calculator
• Statute of limitations in Singapore: how to estimate the deadline — Full how-to guide with jurisdiction-specific rules
• Choosing the right statute of limitations tool for Connecticut — How to choose the right calculator