Statute of Limitations for Murder / First-Degree Murder in Hawaii

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 Hawaii, the statute of limitations (“SOL”) for prosecuting serious crimes is governed by Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) § 701-108. For murder / first-degree murder, many people assume a “no limit” rule. In Hawaii, however, the baseline rule you’ll see applied in the SOL framework is a general 5-year limitations period, unless an exception removes (or extends) the time bar.

DocketMath’s statute-of-limitations calculator is designed to let you plug in dates and see how the limitations window changes based on the inputs. Use it as a practical way to organize deadlines—not as legal advice.

Note: For this jurisdiction, no claim-type-specific sub-rule for “murder / first-degree murder” was identified in the provided jurisdiction data. The guidance below therefore uses the general/default 5-year period described in HRS § 701-108(2)(d).

If you’re trying to understand whether a case is time-barred, the most common workflow is:

Confirm the crime category as charged
Identify the relevant start date (often tied to the offense’s timing)
Determine whether any tolling/exception applies
Calculate the latest filing date using the SOL period

Limitation period

General/default period: 5 years

For Hawaii, the jurisdiction data indicates a general SOL period of 5 years, using:

HRS § 701-108(2)(d) as the general statute for the limitations period

That means: if a prosecution is filed outside the 5-year window measured from the applicable start point, the SOL can become a potential procedural defense—subject to exceptions and tolling rules.

How the calculator output changes

In DocketMath, the calculator focuses on date math. The output generally shifts in predictable ways:

Earlier start date → longer time remaining before the deadline
Later start date → shorter time remaining before the deadline
Different SOL period inputs (if the tool allows them) → deadline moves accordingly

A simple mental model for the deadline is:

Latest filing date ≈ start date + 5 years
(Then adjust for any exception or tolling that the tool accounts for, if applicable.)

Practical example (date math)

Assume the relevant start date is 2020-01-15 and you apply the general 5-year period:

SOL window: 2020-01-15 through 2025-01-15 (for a simplified view)
Latest potential deadline (simplified): 2025-01-15

If the prosecution filing is on 2025-01-16, that’s one day outside the simplified deadline. Whether that matters legally depends on the exact triggering date rules and any tolling/exception facts.

Key exceptions

HRS § 701-108 includes an exceptions framework that can change whether the SOL runs normally. The jurisdiction data you provided confirms the general/default 5-year period but does not list a specific murder/first-degree exception sub-rule.

So, for practical use, treat the SOL as:

Default rule: 5 years (HRS § 701-108(2)(d))
Possible change: exceptions/tolling may extend, delay, or remove the time bar depending on the circumstance

Here are the kinds of issues that commonly drive SOL exceptions in criminal limitation regimes, and that you should model in DocketMath:

Tolling events that pause or extend the running of the SOL (for example, periods when prosecution is legally impeded)
Change in charged offense theory (if the charging decision affects which limitations rule applies)
Trigger date disputes (when the clock starts can be contested based on statutory timing rules)

Warning: SOL outcomes can turn on fact-specific timing—especially the clock’s “start date.” Two cases with the same statute but different triggering dates can yield materially different deadlines.

What to do before calculating

Before running the calculator, gather these inputs:

Date of the relevant offense event (or other statutory clock-start date your worksheet uses)
Date of filing / charging you’re comparing against the SOL deadline
Any known tolling-related facts you plan to include (if your process tracks them)

If you’re missing the clock-start date, your calculation may be wrong even if the SOL period (5 years) is correct.

Statute citation

Hawaii’s general/default statute of limitations framework for the period described in the provided jurisdiction data is:

HRS § 701-108(2)(d) — 5-year general SOL period (as reflected in the jurisdiction data)

Source link used for the statute text reference:

https://codes.findlaw.com/hi/division-5-crimes-and-criminal-proceedings/hi-rev-st-sect-701-108/?utm_source=openai

Use the calculator

For a quick deadline analysis using DocketMath, go to:

/tools/statute-of-limitations

Then follow this practical input checklist:

Select jurisdiction: **US-HI (Hawaii)
Enter the SOL start date
- This is the date DocketMath treats as the beginning of the limitations clock for the calculation.
Confirm the limitations period
- Based on the jurisdiction data provided, the default is 5 years under HRS § 701-108(2)(d).
Enter the comparison date (if your workflow includes it)
- For example, the filing/charging date.
Review the result
- The tool should show whether the comparison date falls within or after the calculated deadline.

If you later identify an exception or tolling issue, re-run the calculator with your updated assumptions or adjusted dates.

Inputs and expected output behavior (quick reference)

Input you change	Effect on SOL deadline
Start date goes earlier	Deadline moves earlier/earlier relative timeline (more time elapses from filing perspective)
Start date goes later	Deadline moves later
Filing/charging date moves later	Increases chance the filing is outside the SOL window
SOL period differs from 5 years	Deadline shifts by the difference in time

Pitfall: Don’t mix “date of incident” with “date of discovery” unless the statute’s triggering rule actually uses that later date. The SOL clock start is the most common source of error.