Bills Would Give More Time to Sue over Sex Abuse, by Dena Potter, Deseret News, January 28, 2011

Bills Would Give More Time to Sue over Sex Abuse

By Dena Potter
Deseret News
January 28, 2011

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700104788/Bills-would-give-more-time-to-sue-over-sex-abuse.html

Catholic priest, James Moran, left, talks to the media during a news conference on legislation dealing with the statute of limitation on how long victims of sex abuse have to file civil lawsuits at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011..

Becky Ianni said she was 9 years old when her popular priest began fondling her.

After two years of abuse in her home and her church, Ianni said she pushed the memories so far back she didn't think about it again until she came across a picture of herself with the priest nearly four decades later.

By that time, the priest had killed himself when confronted by abuse allegations from another person. When Ianni was finally able to come forward, Virginia's two-year statute of limitations on filing civil lawsuits in such cases had expired.

Bills before the Virginia General Assembly would extend the time people have to file claims of sexual abuse against accused attackers and others responsible. Both proposals originally extended the statute of limitations from two years to 25 years.

The House bill was scaled back to eight years at the urging of the Virginia Catholic Conference. The Senate proposal was changed to 20 years late Thursday.

Holding a picture of that red-haired, freckle-faced girl she used to be, Ianni and other victims of child sexual abuse called Thursday on legislators to set the limit at no less than 15 years.

The time period begins either from the act, from when the accuser turns 18 or, in cases where the memories are suppressed, when the accuser realizes he or she was abused.

Ianni and others argued that extending the time limit will encourage those suffering in silence to come forward, expose their attackers and help protect other children from abuse.

"Eight years is not a reasonable period of time considering that victims of sexual abuse carry their wounds for a lifetime — a lifetime already shortened by the theft of their childhood," said Mark McAllister of Vinton, who said he too was abused by a priest.

McAllister said his weekly and sometimes daily abuse began when he was 13.

"I was drugged, sodomized, beaten and perhaps worst of all, brainwashed into thinking I was a willing participant in what he referred to as a normal and consensual relationship," he said.

McAllister said he also suppressed the memories for years, struggling with depression and substance abuse. At 37, around the time his son was born, he began to remember what had happened to him.

The accused priest, it turns out, had pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a minor in New Jersey a year earlier and changed his name before moving to McAllister's Missouri parish in 1983.

That priest, Father Gerald Howard, is now awaiting trial in Missouri.

Del. David Albo's bill passed the House unanimously on Tuesday. Albo, R-Fairfax, said Thursday he doesn't think eight years is enough and would work to increase the limit to 15 before the legislative process is finished.

Six states have statute of limitations of 15 years or longer. The majority of states allow two to five years.

Jeff Caruso, executive director of the Virginia Catholic Conference, said his organization hasn't identified an exact number of years as long as it's reasonable and also fair to the victims.

"We're open to a reasonable extension, but I do think that what other states have to say on this is instructive," he said.

There is no statute of limitations for the criminal prosecution of felonies in Virginia. Camille Cooper, a lobbyist with the National Association to Protect Children, said there shouldn't be one for civil lawsuits either.

"The perpetrator's greatest weapon is intimidating the victim into silence," she said.

Cooper argued the time extension doesn't help the victims prove their cases. As the time passes, she said, there is a greater chance that evidence will get lost, witnesses will die and memories will fade.

James Moran, a retired priest who also was abused, said the extension is needed because in most cases, when victims realize what happened to them long ago they often hesitate to come forward at first.

Moran said he was raped by a priest nine months before he was ordained in 1970. He struggled with whether to continue into priesthood, but said he forged ahead with this thought: "The little good I could do would offset the evil done to me."

Like the others, Moran pushed aside thoughts of the abuse until 2001. He retired in 2006 and lives in Alexandria.

Ianni, who also grew up in Alexandria, said she never told anyone about the abuse as a child. She was told that God would be mad at her and she would go to hell. Nothing could be worse "for a devout little Catholic girl," she said.

"He took my innocence and left me terrified, guilt ridden and deeply ashamed," she said.

William Casey, a member of Voice of the Faithful, a support group for Catholics abused by priests, said elimination of the statute of limitations is the only fair option. He called the current two-year cap "cruel."

"The sexual abuse of children is a murder of the child's soul, and each such child should have the opportunity to persuade a judge or jury of their abuse," Casey said.