UTAH
BuzzFeed News
Posted on July 17, 2017
Zoe Tillman
BuzzFeed News Reporter
A Utah woman’s lawsuit against a former federal judge accusing him of raping her more than three decades ago is now at the center of a legal fight over how child sexual abuse claims are handled in the state, and whether victims can seek justice for old alleged crimes.
Last year, Terry Mitchell sued Richard Roberts — then the chief judge of the federal trial court in Washington, DC — accusing him of taking advantage of her age and repeatedly forcing her to have sex with him in 1981, when he was a 27-year-old prosecutor and she was a 16-year-old witness in one of his cases.
Roberts, who has since left the bench, denied the allegations, although he admitted having an “intimate” relationship with Mitchell. His lawyers argued that regardless of what happened, Mitchell had long missed the legal window to sue.
The case has turned into a broader dispute over a Utah law cited by Mitchell’s lawyers that revived expired child sexual abuse claims in the state. Roberts’ lawyers argue that Utah lawmakers lacked authority to resurrect civil claims where the clock to file had already run out.
The Utah Supreme Court will now decide if the revival law is valid. If the justices conclude that the state legislature ran afoul of its authority and they strike down the law, “it’s going to do an injustice to adult survivors everywhere,” said Lani Wallace, an attorney in Utah who works with child sexual abuse survivors.
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