BishopAccountability.org
	Bill Would End Statute of Limitations on Rape Legislator: Victims Need Time to Come Forward By Mike Zapler and Edwin Garcia Inside Bay Area February 11, 2007 http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_5206348 Sacramento — Most accused rapists and other serious sexual offenders can't be prosecuted in California if it's been 10 years since their crime. This week, Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, announced legislation to scrap that time limit — a nod to victims, she said, who are too traumatized to come forward earlier. The bill could trigger an odd alliance between Lieber, a staunch liberal on most issues, and tough-on-crime Republicans in the Legislature. But its passage is far from certain: A similar measure stalled in the state Senate two years ago without so much as a vote. Lieber's Assembly Bill 261 would eliminate the 10-year statute of limitations for the most serious sexual crimes: rape, sodomy, child molestation, oral copulation, continuous sexual abuse of a child, forcible acts of sexual penetration and fleeing the state to avoid prosecution for a sex offense. "The current statute of limitations is not long enough for victims who may be too traumatized to come forward," Lieber said. "These are very serious crimes; they're second only to murder in terms of their seriousness. The impact on victims is profound and lifelong." Lieber's bill would apply only to incidents that happen after the bill takes effect. During the height of the church sexual abuse scandals, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 struck down a California law that would have retroactively erased the statute of limitations on child molestation. The court held that it was unfair to alter the statute of limitations in cases where it had already expired before the law was enacted. California already allows the statute of limitations to be extended for serious sexual crimes when DNA evidence is located. But Lieber said the law is so riddled with other exceptions to the statute of limitations in sex cases that prosecutors have trouble deciding when it applies. She said her bill would remove that ambiguity. Opponents argue that allowing cases 10 years old or more increases the likelihood of wrongful convictions. The California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, the state's largest organization of criminal defense lawyers, vowed to fight the measure because of the "unfairness" in trying to prove innocence in old cases. "I see this change as being no more justifiable than other changes to the statutes of limitations and it just twists the balance sheet in favor of allowing more prosecutions," said Jeff Stein, co-chairman of the group's legislative committee. Many people, he said, struggle to remember where they parked their car at a mall, and in a similar manner witnesses and victims may not recall events that happened long ago. "How do you put together an alibi defense on an ancient case where you legitimately may have been elsewhere and that it was no fault of your own that somebody 10 years, 20 years, 30 years later decides they made an unsubstantiated claim?" But tough-on-crime bills often have cross-party appeal. The Democratic chairman of the Assembly Public Safety Committee endorsed Lieber's bill and it's likely many Republicans will, too. "I'm completely supportive," said Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, a former prosecutor and police officer. "The psychological trauma and the ability of a victim to come to terms with that trauma typically doesn't emerge until adulthood." According to research by Lieber's staff, seven other states have no statute of limitation for rape. And several other states have no time limit for prosecuting other serious sexual crimes. MediaNews Sacramento Bureau reporter Kate Folmar contributed to this report. Mike Zapler can be reached at (916) 441-4603.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.