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Illinois Compiled Statutes

720 ILCS 5/3-7 (2026)

Periods excluded from limitation

✓ current as of May 2026
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(720 ILCS 5/3-7) (from Ch. 38, par. 3-7)
    Sec. 3-7. Periods excluded from limitation.
    (a) The period within which a prosecution must be commenced does not include any period in which:
        (1) the defendant is not usually and publicly
    
resident within this State; or
        (2) the defendant is a public officer and the
    
offense charged is theft of public funds while in public office; or
        (3) a prosecution is pending against the defendant
    
for the same conduct, even if the indictment or information which commences the prosecution is quashed or the proceedings thereon are set aside, or are reversed on appeal; or
        (4) a proceeding or an appeal from a proceeding
    
relating to the quashing or enforcement of a Grand Jury subpoena issued in connection with an investigation of a violation of a criminal law of this State is pending. However, the period within which a prosecution must be commenced includes any period in which the State brings a proceeding or an appeal from a proceeding specified in this paragraph (4); or
        (5) a material witness is placed on active military
    
duty or leave. In this paragraph (5), "material witness" includes, but is not limited to, the arresting officer, occurrence witness, or the alleged victim of the offense; or
        (6) the victim of unlawful force or threat of
    
imminent bodily harm to obtain information or a confession is incarcerated, and the victim's incarceration, in whole or in part, is a consequence of the unlawful force or threats; or
        (7) the sexual assault evidence is collected and
    
submitted to the Illinois State Police until the completion of the analysis of the submitted evidence.
    (a-5) The prosecution shall not be required to prove at trial facts establishing periods excluded from the general limitations in Section 3-5 of this Code when the facts supporting periods being excluded from the general limitations are properly pled in the charging document. Any challenge relating to periods of exclusion as defined in this Section shall be exclusively conducted under Section 114-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963.
    (b) For the purposes of this Section:
        "Completion of the analysis of the submitted
    
evidence" means analysis of the collected evidence and conducting of laboratory tests and the comparison of the collected evidence with the genetic marker grouping analysis information maintained by the Illinois State Police under Section 5-4-3 of the Unified Code of Corrections and with the information contained in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National DNA database.
        "Sexual assault" has the meaning ascribed to it in
    
Section 1a of the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Treatment Act.
        "Sexual assault evidence" has the meaning ascribed to
    
it in Section 5 of the Sexual Assault Evidence Submission Act.
(Source: P.A. 102-538, eff. 8-20-21.)

    
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 19 cases (4 in the last 5 years), 1994–2023 · leading case: People v. Casas, 2017 IL 120797 (Ill. 2017).
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People v. Casas, 2017 IL 120797 (Ill. 2017). · cites it 2× “720 ILCS 5/3-7(a) (West 2014). Defendant appeals to this court.”
People v. D'Alise, 2022 IL App (2d) 210541 (Ill. App. Ct. 2022). · cites it 2× “charged: “[Defendant] did on or between the 1st day of August, 2018 through the 30th day of June, 2019, *** commit the offense of Unlicensed Practice, in that said defendant, knowingly employed a dentist or other entity to provide dental care to a patient, James Wadas, when said…”
People v. Casas, 2016 IL App (2d) 150456 (Ill. App. Ct. 2016). · cites it 2× “See generally 720 ILCS 5/3-6 (West 2014) (extending limitations period for certain offenses); 720 ILCS 5/3-7 (West 2014) (excluding certain times from limitations period); 720 ILCS 5/3-8 (West 2014) (providing that for continuing offenses, limitations period is tolled and…”
People v. Shinaul, 2017 IL 120162 (Ill. 2018). “The State argues, however, that under the corresponding section of the Code that sets forth periods excluded from the statute of limitations (720 ILCS 5/3-7 (West 2012)), the “prosecution” against defendant was still pending and has yet to expire for the purpose of the…”
People v. Wells, 2017 IL App (1st) 152758 (Ill. App. Ct. 2017). · cites it 2× “See 720 ILCS 5/3-7(c) (West 2006) (“[t]he period within which a prosecution must be commenced does not include any period in which *** [a] prosecution is 8 No.”
People v. Wells, 2017 IL App (1st) 152758 (Ill. App. Ct. 2017). · cites it 3× “” 720 ILCS 5/3-7(c) (West 2006). Defendant argued that his collateral petition and appeal filed after his 2008 guilty plea did not toll the statute of limitations, in that it did not constitute a “pending prosecution” under section 3-7.”
People v. Gwinn, 627 N.E.2d 699 (Ill. App. Ct. 1994). “3-7(c) (now 720 ILCS 5/3-7(c) (West 1992))). Wasson, 211 Ill.”
People v. Casas, 2016 IL App (2d) 150456 (Ill. App. Ct. 2016). · cites it 2× “See generally 720 ILCS 5/3-6 (West 2014) (extending limitations period for certain offenses); 720 ILCS 5/3-7 (West 2014) (excluding certain times from limitations period); 720 ILCS 5/3-8 (West 2014) (providing that for continuing offenses, limitations period is tolled and…”
People v. Casas, 2018 IL App (2d) 150456-B (Ill. App. Ct. 2018). · cites it 4× “Under the new statutory framework, after a defendant moves to dismiss a charge as time-barred, the State then "shall have the burden of proving, by a preponderance of the evidence," that the charge is not time-barred; this showing *934 would be made at a pretrial hearing on the…”
People v. Casas, 2018 IL App (2d) 150456-B (Ill. App. Ct. 2018). · cites it 3× “(adding 720 ILCS 5/3-7(a-5) and 725 ILCS 5/114-1(d-6)); see also Smith v.”
Velazquez v. Sternes, 151 F. Supp. 2d 946 (N.D. Ill. 2001). “Finally, as the state appellate court pointed out, under 720 ILCS 5/3-7(a), the statute of limitations is tolled when a "defendant is not usually and publicly resident within this State.”
People v. Lutter, 2015 IL App (2d) 140139 (Ill. App. Ct. 2016). “720 ILCS 5/3-5(b) (West 2012). The limitations period may be either tolled or extended for various reasons, including when “[a] prosecution is pending against the defendant for the same conduct.”
Show all 19 citing cases →
— 720 ILCS 5/3-7(a) — 9 cases
People v. Casas, 2017 IL 120797 (Ill. 2017). “720 ILCS 5/3-7(a) (West 2014). Defendant appeals to this court.”
People v. Casas, 2016 IL App (2d) 150456 (Ill. App. Ct. 2016). “See generally 720 ILCS 5/3-6 (West 2014) (extending limitations period for certain offenses); 720 ILCS 5/3-7 (West 2014) (excluding certain times from limitations period); 720 ILCS 5/3-8 (West 2014) (providing that for continuing offenses, limitations period is tolled and…”
People v. Casas, 2016 IL App (2d) 150456 (Ill. App. Ct. 2016). “See generally 720 ILCS 5/3-6 (West 2014) (extending limitations period for certain offenses); 720 ILCS 5/3-7 (West 2014) (excluding certain times from limitations period); 720 ILCS 5/3-8 (West 2014) (providing that for continuing offenses, limitations period is tolled and…”
People v. Casas, 2018 IL App (2d) 150456-B (Ill. App. Ct. 2018). “Under the new statutory framework, after a defendant moves to dismiss a charge as time-barred, the State then "shall have the burden of proving, by a preponderance of the evidence," that the charge is not time-barred; this showing *934 would be made at a pretrial hearing on the…”
Velazquez v. Sternes, 151 F. Supp. 2d 946 (N.D. Ill. 2001). “Finally, as the state appellate court pointed out, under 720 ILCS 5/3-7(a), the statute of limitations is tolled when a "defendant is not usually and publicly resident within this State.”
— 720 ILCS 5/3-7(a)(3) — 3 cases
People v. D'Alise, 2022 IL App (2d) 210541 (Ill. App. Ct. 2022). “charged: “[Defendant] did on or between the 1st day of August, 2018 through the 30th day of June, 2019, *** commit the offense of Unlicensed Practice, in that said defendant, knowingly employed a dentist or other entity to provide dental care to a patient, James Wadas, when said…”
People v. Buchanan, 2023 IL App (2d) 220265-U (Ill. App. Ct. 2023).
People v. Pozniak, 2021 IL App (3d) 200506-U (Ill. App. Ct. 2021).
— 720 ILCS 5/3-7(c) — 6 cases
People v. Wells, 2017 IL App (1st) 152758 (Ill. App. Ct. 2017). “See 720 ILCS 5/3-7(c) (West 2006) (“[t]he period within which a prosecution must be commenced does not include any period in which *** [a] prosecution is 8 No.”
People v. Wells, 2017 IL App (1st) 152758 (Ill. App. Ct. 2017). “” 720 ILCS 5/3-7(c) (West 2006). Defendant argued that his collateral petition and appeal filed after his 2008 guilty plea did not toll the statute of limitations, in that it did not constitute a “pending prosecution” under section 3-7.”
People v. Gwinn, 627 N.E.2d 699 (Ill. App. Ct. 1994). “3-7(c) (now 720 ILCS 5/3-7(c) (West 1992))). Wasson, 211 Ill.”
People v. Lutter, 2015 IL App (2d) 140139 (Ill. App. Ct. 2016). “720 ILCS 5/3-5(b) (West 2012). The limitations period may be either tolled or extended for various reasons, including when “[a] prosecution is pending against the defendant for the same conduct.”
Mitchell v. Keenan, 858 F. Supp. 105 (N.D. Ill. 1994).
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