HARRISBURG (PA)
Patriot News
May 15, 2019
By Ivey DeJesus
In recent years, the debate over reform of the state’s statute of limitations has overwhelmingly been framed against the clergy sex abuse crisis.
On Wednesday about a dozen victims of convicted serial predator pediatrician Johnnie “Jack” Barto lent their voices to that effort.
In a press conference held at the Capitol Rotunda, the victims, along with state Sen. Katie Muth (D-Montgomery), reiterated long heard arguments for the reform of the state’s child sex crime laws. Muth is a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 540, which calls for broad reform, including elimination of criminal statutes and a two-year retroactive window to allow time-barred victims to file civil suits.
Muth vowed to work across the aisle in the Senate to engender support for the bill, which currently has 18 co-sponsors. The freshman senator said victims of all ages need and deserve the protection of the law, adding that her bill would provide victims a choice between pathways to healing, including lawsuits.
“We are failing,” Muth said. “We are failing to give victims a reason to come forward.”
Attorney General Josh Shapiro who led the grand jury investigation into the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania as well as prosecuted Barto, has endorsed SB 540.
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