As the sordid accounts emerge about a former Catholic priest’s alleged sexual abuse of several boys, we hope Colorado lawmakers will give careful consideration to eliminating the statute of limitations for sexual assault on a child.
At least 17 men have come forward to allege that ex-priest Harold R. White sexually abused them as children, but none of the incidents reported so far can be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has expired. (State law, however, doesn’t bar some from filing civil suits, and several have.)
State Rep. Rosemary Marshall, D-Denver, plans to introduce a bill in the next legislative session to eliminate the statute of limitations on sex crimes against children. “Basically, the objective is to give an individual who experienced sexual abuse in childhood an opportunity for prosecution,” she said. “Colorado law currently allows (prosecution) 10 years beyond the age of 18, and we don’t have a repressed-memory statute in Colorado like other states. If we remove the limitation that, of course, wouldn’t be necessary.”
The Colorado District Attorneys Council will examine the issue, although the group hasn’t taken a formal position yet, said director Bob Grant, a former Adams County DA. Under current Colorado law, the statute doesn’t run out until the victim is 28 years old, Grant said. “Also, we have no statute on DNA cases where we’re not able to identify the individual by name,” he said. “We issue a warrant when the case is filed, and whenever the DNA shows up, there’s the defendant.”
Over the years, Colorado has developed a “pretty good system” for prosecuting sexual abuse of children, he said. “The downside of expanding the statute of limitations is the availability of evidence,” Grant said. “It’s not that that we wouldn’t want to prosecute cases, but the likelihood of prosecuting cases (and convincing a jury to convict) 10, 15, 20 years after the offense diminishes geometrically.”
There are also important concerns about the ability of the accused to put on a capable defense when decades may have passed. Denver defense attorney David A. Lane says cold cases pose “almost insurmountable difficulties for prosecutors,” and are “even more difficult for defendants.” The task of investigating and defending against false or overblown accusations “will lead, in my opinion, to many unjust convictions,” he predicts.
It’s essential to guard against such results, and lawmakers should be careful that justifiable outrage doesn’t open the door to injustice. There’s a good reason these statutes have been on the books, and any exceptions must be narrowly cast.
