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	Delonga's Case: Statute of Limitations Keloland [South Dakota] November 3, 2005 When a case like Judy Delonga's goes in front of the courts, the first thing a judge may look at is the statute of limitations. How long after the incident is the victim coming forward? Federal law states that a child who is sexually abused has until their death to make a claim. But South Dakota state law gives a victim of sexual abuse just 3 years to come forward from the time they were abused or from the time they recall the seriousness of the abuse. DeLonga's lawyer says that law needs to change. Did Judy DeLonga's forty years of silence help Father Bruce MacArthur stay a free man? According to South Dakota's statute of limitations...Yes. Delonga's attorney Stephanie Pochop said, "It limits the rights of victims who often times like Judy suffer in silence for decades from being able to come forward and bring their claims in civil suits because of the way the statutes are drafted in South Dakota." Pochop says her client's case should be used as an example to get the law changed. "I think this is a tool we can use to have a voice with our legislature to take some recognition of that right now in the state of SD we have statutes of limitations which prevent admitted pedophile like the serial pedophile that abused Judy from being in prison and prosecuted criminally," said Pochup. State Representative and Sioux Falls attorney Joni Cutler said, "The law favors acting soon after a person feels they've been wronged over waiting long periods of time." Cutler says waiting makes it difficult to prove a case but she agrees with Delonga's attorney that 3 years isn't enough time for a victim abused as a child to come forward. Cutler said, "That's a relatively short period of time given the nature of these types of cases where a child who's been a victim may take a very long time and lot of help, a lot of years processing their victimization." It's a statue Cutler says should possibly be changed to reflect federal law. "It may be worthy of taking a look at what our statute of limitations does in these cases and see if maybe we shouldn't compare it to the federal statures and perhaps take a second look at how we treat child victims of sexual abuse," she said. In 1990, the US Congress created a special statute of limitations for children who are victims of sexual abuse. That was amended in 1994, and again in 2003.
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