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Old laws prevent charges in sex abuse case from 80s
By Tom Hillen
WOOD
November 08, 2014
http://woodtv.com/2014/11/08/old-statute-of-limitations-prevents-charges-in-sex-abuse-case/
[with video]
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A former Cadet leader at a Muskegon church has been accused of sexually assaulting young boys back in the 1970s and early 1980s.
The Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office said Randall Doctor is being investigated for the alleged crimes but so far is not being charged.
“He would take us out in the woods after the driving of the semi and he would do terrible and horrendous things to us,” said Brad White, one of Doctors alleged victims.
The reason he isn’t being charged is because the alleged abuse happened at a time where Michigan had a statute of limitations on first degree criminal sexual conduct against a child.
“You could have tortured me and I would have never said that anything happened,” said White.
Until 2001, the statute of limitations was six years or the child’s 21st birthday, whichever came last.
Brett Gardner is a former assistant prosecutor in Muskegon County and said if allegations came in after those limits there was nothing they could do.
“That meant that an assailant or the suspect could not be prosecuted and left them on the street. And certainly criminal sexual conduct against children, that’s about as bad as it gets,” Gardner said.
In 2001 the laws in Michigan changed which eliminated any statute of limitation on first degree criminal sexual conduct against a child.
It was just last month that White and another alleged victim came forward decades after the alleged sex abuse.
“That’s the problem it isn’t retroactive. In the case that currently came up in Muskegon that’s what preventing them from going forward because they don’t have that tool because it is not retroactively applied,” Gardner said.
White said he believes there are other victims out there from after 2001 that could help prosecutors potentially bring sex abuse charges against Doctor.
“He doesn’t deserve to ever walk free again because he will destroy another human being.”
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