Thank you, I didn't know this. I assume that in most situations there are only a few days between the two events, but some cases obviously have differing circumstances.
I hope the legal eagles have replied to you (I'm reading the thread now) but as far as I know there are only the two kinds of deadlines affecting the first steps of the judicial process -- the statute of limitations and the speedy trial aspect.
Statute of limitations means the length of time since the crime, after which a person can longer be charged with that crime. Example: if the statute of limitations for embezzlement, say, was 10 years (made up for purposes of example), then if an embezzler isn't found out/charged until 11 years after his crime, it's too late, the statute of limitations has expired, and they "get away with it". Murder doesn't have a statute of limitations so that's irrelevant for this case. A person can be tried for murder no matter how long ago the crime occurred.
The speedy trial aspect: If the investigators want months to complete their investigation before they have to be ready to go to trial, or, like with some murder cases, if the victim's body hasn't been found and they hope to find it and use any evidence it provides at trial, they want to charge and arraign the suspect as late as possible in order to have maximum investigation time.
At the same time, they want to get a dangerous person off the street, which is why you'll sometimes see someone charged, like BL is, with a lesser or white-collar crime just to get them off the street, and while the court process plays out for that lesser crime, the investigators can be building and making airtight their legal case for the more serious crime without worrying the suspect will flee or commit more crimes.
How'd I do, legals?
MOO