CALIFORNIA
Press-Enterprise
AUGUST 20, 2013 BY DAVID OLSON
I wrote today on the debate over a bill in the California legislature that would allow some alleged victims of childhood sexual abuse a chance to sue even if their cases are decades old.
On Monday, I sat down for four hours with David Nickell in his Riverside backyard as he told me the wrenching story of how, he said, a priest in San Bernardino repeatedly abused him when he was 11 and 12 years old.
Nickell’s hands were shaking during much of the interview. Other times, they were clasped together tightly.
“This is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” he told me.
I was struck how even at age 45, Nickell still partially blames himself.
“I just don’t know what I did to make him do this,” he told me.
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