Statute of Limitations for Class C / Petty Misdemeanor in District of Columbia

5 min read

Published March 22, 2026 • By DocketMath Team

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws change frequently — verify all citations with current official sources.

Overview

In the District of Columbia, the statute of limitations (SOL) sets a deadline for the government to file a criminal case after an alleged offense. For a Class C misdemeanor / petty misdemeanor, D.C. law uses a general limitations period rather than a separate, charge-specific timeline.

DocketMath’s statute-of-limitations calculator is designed to help you turn that legal rule into a date you can plan around—by entering an offense date and (when relevant) tolled/paused periods you’re tracking.

Note: This article describes the general/default SOL applied to the offense. It does not identify every possible category of tolling, procedural pause, or unique circumstance that could affect timing in a specific case.

Limitation period

Default SOL: 3 years

For purposes of D.C. criminal limitations, the general rule provides a 3-year SOL. Your “Class C / petty misdemeanor” timing under this default rule typically runs from the relevant starting date defined by the statute and how D.C. treats the offense date in practice.

Key baseline assumption for this page:

General SOL period: 3 years
Applicable law: D.C. Code § 23–113(a)(1) (general rule)
No charge-specific sub-rule identified for Class C/petty misdemeanors: the general/default period is the starting point.

How the deadline is computed (practical workflow)

To use the DocketMath calculator effectively, treat it like a date computation tool.

Inputs you’ll usually provide

Offense date (the date of the alleged conduct)
Optional: tolling/pause period (if you have documented reasons the clock stopped or restarted)

Outputs you’ll typically want

SOL expiration date (the “last day to file” under the computation the tool uses)
The time remaining as of “today” (if the calculator supports a current-date check)

How output changes

If you move the offense date later by even a day, the expiration date moves later by the same day.
If you add a tolling period (e.g., 90 days), the expiration date is pushed forward by roughly that amount of time.

Checklist before you calculate

Use this quick checklist to make sure your inputs won’t accidentally shorten or lengthen the timeline:

Key exceptions

D.C. SOL rules can be affected by exceptions that pause, toll, or alter the computation. This matters because the default “3 years” is only the baseline.

Because this page is focused on the default period for Class C / petty misdemeanor timing, treat exceptions as “clock modifiers” rather than assumptions. In practice, exceptions often arise from events like:

Tolling during certain defendant-related circumstances (for example, if the legal clock is suspended under specific statutory triggers)
Procedural events that courts treat as affecting the running of the limitations period

Warning: Even when the general SOL is clear, real-world timing can turn on facts not captured by an offense date alone. DocketMath can compute the baseline and incorporate tolling inputs you provide, but it can’t verify jurisdiction-specific procedural details on its own.

If you’re building a timeline, consider maintaining a running log:

Offense date
Filing date (if known)
Any documented events you believe caused tolling/pauses
Notes on what authority supports each pause (e.g., where you saw it referenced)

That log makes it easier to use the calculator consistently and to sanity-check the resulting expiration date.

Statute citation

General SOL period (default): 3 years

D.C. Code § 23–113(a)(1) (general limitations period)

Source (as published code text):

https://law.justia.com/codes/district-of-columbia/2014/division-iv/title-23/chapter-1/section-23-113/

This statutory provision is the starting point for the default SOL for the category discussed here. Per this brief, no claim-type-specific sub-rule was found, so the general/default period is used as the applicable timeline foundation.

Use the calculator

You can run the timing math with DocketMath here:

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

What to enter

Select jurisdiction: District of Columbia (US-DC)
Select/use the SOL rule: default 3 years for Class C / petty misdemeanor timing under the general rule
Enter the offense date
Optional: add a tolling/paused period if you have it tracked with start/end dates or a total number of days

Read the output the right way

When the tool returns an SOL expiration date, interpret it as:

The computed deadline under the rule and inputs you entered
A reference date for planning next steps (not a guarantee that a court will adopt the same computation if additional tolling or procedural issues exist)

Practical “input/output” examples (how results shift)

Below are example patterns to help you predict changes:

Scenario	What you change	What happens to SOL expiration
Later alleged conduct	Offense date moves from 2020-01-15 to 2020-02-15	Expiration moves about 31 days later
Clock paused	Add 120 days of tolling	Expiration moves about 120 days later
No tolling tracked	Keep tolling at 0	Expiration follows exactly the 3-year baseline from offense date

If you want your estimate to match the way your records are organized, enter dates consistently and keep tolling assumptions documented.