P.R. Laws Ap. tit. 34A, § II, Rule 5
The complaint is a signed and sworn written statement of an offense charging a person or several persons with the commission of an offense. Any person having personal knowledge of the facts that constitute the offense charged in the complaint shall have standing to be the complainant. The prosecutors and members of the State Police in all cases, and other officers and public employees in cases related to the performance of their duties and functions, may nevertheless sign and swear to complaints when the facts constituting the offense are known to them by information and belief.
Likewise, the prosecutor may file a John Doe complaint against a person whose real name or identity is unknown, but there is biological evidence of his/her genetic or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) profile. The complaint shall be the basis to determine probable cause to arrest or summon a person who has been identified by means of a fictitious name and genetic or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) profile. Such complaint shall be amended as soon as the identity of the defendant has been established by means of the genetic or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) profile and shall constitute the formal indictment until a preliminary or appeal hearing is held. In these cases, the statute of limitations of the crime, as established in the Penal Code of Puerto Rico, shall not begin to run until such identity is established, the complaint has been amended to reflect the defendant’s real name or alias, and probable cause for arrest or summon has been determined.
The foregoing shall only apply in cases where biological evidence of the genetic or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) profile has been obtained at the crime scene.
History —June 19, 1987, No. 29, p. 91, § 1, eff. 60 days after June 19, 1987; Dec. 30, 2010, No. 252, § 1.