AUSTIN (TX)
American-Statesman
By David Kassabian
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Stephanie Burt has been a familiar sight in the halls of the Capitol for the past few months, telling any senator or representative who will listen the story of her 34-year-old son who was repeatedly molested as a child by his church pastor.
Since Burt moved to Austin from East Texas in April to become an amateur lobbyist, she has tried to persuade lawmakers to support eliminating the statute of limitations for charges of indecency with a child. Currently, accusers cannot press charges after their 28th birthday.
"It's like, who are you for, the predator or the child?" Burt said last week. "At this moment the power is all in the predator's court, and they are using the law to their advantage."
Burt's son, Tommy, didn't remember the abuse until 1996, when he was 26 years old, and wasn't ready to press charges until two years later. A subsequent investigation by local prosecutors revealed that at least 35 other boys from the small East Texas town of Henderson were allegedly assaulted by Kenneth Eugene Ward, prosecutors said.
But because the alleged abuse had occurred decades earlier, the statute of limitations had expired. Despite a full written confession by Ward vividly detailing alleged transgressions across three decades, and specifically mentioning Tommy Burt by name, only the latest incident of abuse Ward confessed to was eligible for prosecution.
Posted by kshaw at March 13, 2005 06:46 PM