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	Legislation Targets Predator Priests By Brendan J. Lyons Albany Times Union May 25, 2011 http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Legislation-targets-predator-priests-1394586.php ALBANY -- Two men who said they were raped as children by priests from the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese joined ranks with a Queens assemblywoman Tuesday to push for a measure extending the statute of limitations in child sexual abuse cases. The bill proposed by Assemblywoman Margaret M. Markey, D-Queens, has passed three times in the Assembly but never been presented for a vote in the Senate. "New York, pass this law," said Heath Bromley, a sexual abuse victim of Gary Mercure, a longtime priest in the Albany diocese. "Do you support pedophiles or do you support children?" Mercure was convicted of rape and indecent assault and battery on a child last year in Berkshire County, Mass. The investigation of Mercure started in Warren County but had to be shifted to Massachusetts because his crimes, which took place between 1986 and 1989, were not subject to prosecution under New York's statute of limitations. Mercure had raped some of his child victims during trips to Massachusetts, where the statute of limitations extends 27 years after a sexual abuse incident is reported or from when a child victim reaches the age of 16. Michael DeSantis, who grew up in Colonie and has accused four priests of sexually abusing him as a child, also attended and supports the bill. "I applaud her for what she does to make a stand," DeSantis said of Markey. " ... This has to stop." New York's five-year statute of limitations for prosecution begins to run when a victim reaches the age of 18. There are similar time constraints for a victim to bring a civil action against an alleged predator or institution, such as a church or sports organization. Sexual predators should not be able to "run out the clock" for their crimes, Markey said. Her bill would extend the civil and criminal statute of limitations to five years after the victim reaches age 23. Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum, director of the Brooklyn-based Rabbinical Alliance of America, a coalition of 800 Jewish congregational leaders, attended the Capitol news conference to lend support to the measure. Catholic church leaders, meanwhile, have argued against the bill and said it "encourages lawsuits."
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