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	No Statute of Limitations Sought for Pedophiles By Kimberly Atkins MetroWest Daily News June 14, 2006 http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=132839 As advocates for child sex-abuse victims and state officials rallied on Beacon Hill to push lawmakers to eliminate the statute of limitations on sex crimes against children, the chairman of the committee vetting bills said he plans to recommend extending, but not doing away with, the time limit. Yesterday a number of advocates, including Robert Curley, whose son Jeffrey was brutally raped and murdered by two neighbors in 1997, took to the State House steps to urge lawmakers to move the proposed laws, which have lingered in the Judiciary Committee for months, before legislators rece for the summer. "I just don't understand why it's so difficult to get things done here when it involves the protection of children," Curley said. Attorney General Tom Reilly said the time limit for prosecuting accused predators lets criminals escape responsibility while tying victims' and prosecutors' hands. "There is no amount of years that should protect someone who has abused a child," Reilly said. "The clock should never stop." But state Rep. Eugene O'Flaherty, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, said committee members have spent the last few months scrutinizing language of the bills to ensure they pa statutory and constitutional muster since some could conflict with laws already on the books. He said he hoped to finish redrafts by the June 30 deadline, but that he will likely recommend extending the statute of limitations to give abuse victims more time to bring claims, not eliminating it altogether. In Maachusetts, only murder has no statute of limitations. "I am getting ready very shortly (to) recommend something incremental in nature," O'Flaherty said. "I anticipate that committee members will agree with me." He also denied the defense attorneys have held up the bill by lobbying against it. "I don't think I have heard from a single defense attorney," O'Flaherty said.
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