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	Statutes of Limitations Apply Too Soon for Some Victims By Howard Goodman Sun-Sentinel [Florida] April 22, 2007 http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-phoward22apr22,0,4071640.column?coll=sfla-news-palm Jeffrey Smith was just 10 years old when the abuse started, 13 when it ended. But the impact only grew. His mother first saw bad signs when her son was 17 and on an overnight trip with the Civil Air Patrol. Instead of sleeping outside, he locked himself in a car. He was afraid to be out there with the other boys, even though the abuse had taken place years before, by a man who taught an after-school class he no longer attended. She watched her only son grow fascinated with knives and guns. With being tough. "He never wanted anyone around to hurt him." At college, Florida State, he began showing serious signs of mental unbalance. "He'd call me at 2 and 3 in the morning, in tears, saying, 'I don't want to live anymore,'" his mother says. Twice he tried to kill himself. One night he put a gun to his head and police temporarily committed him. Increasingly, he linked his problems to the sex abuse. "By then," she says, "the statute of limitations was gone and there was nothing he could do to the man. I know he called him once and confronted him, and the guy denied doing anything to him at all." With meds and therapy, Smith managed to graduate. But little things made him boil. He couldn't hold onto a job or a relationship. He left a job in South Carolina to move back home at 31. His girlfriend stayed behind. He became more depressed than ever. On Christmas Eve, 2001, he drove back to Carolina to find her. He found her with somebody else. "He had a gun," his mother says, "and he shot himself in the heart. And that was the end of his story." This isn't a column about mental illness and guns and college, though that's certainly timely enough. This is about a young man's deterioration and a mother's grief and a continuing injustice: that the man they held responsible for much of their misery is beyond the reach of the legal system. Patty Robinson now channels her pain and anger into an effort to help Florida child-abuse victims bring charges against, or sue, their abusers. I've written about the bill devised by Palm Beach Gardens attorney Michael Dolce, himself a victim of child sex abuse. If passed, the time limit on charges would start ticking, not right after a crime was committed, but after a doctor says it is safe for a victim to come forward and confront the abuser. It's needed because the young victims often don't face up to their personal horror for years. I'm sorry to report the bill looks dead. Sen. J. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, won't bring it before the Senate Judiciary Committee he leads. "He doesn't believe in extending the statute of limitations," says the bill's sponsor, Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Parkland. The Catholic Church, fearing potential liability (though it had nothing to do with Dolce's or Smith's cases), has been the biggest opponent. But Ring doubts the church's clout was crucial. Villalobos "just has a philosophical position," Ring said. Villalobos couldn't be reached for comment or clarification Friday, despite a message left at his office. To be sure, we don't want to encourage false accusations years after the truth can be proved. But here's an instance where the statute of limitations aids the crime. It's deeply unfair to give a creep a pass because he has scared his victim into silence or committed an act so jarring the mind can't process it. I spoke with a man, a public-safety employee in his 40s, who was abused by the same teacher. He didn't want his name used. "That will ruin my career," he said. He, too, tried suicide. Went through years of therapy. Only after Smith's suicide did he decide to act. He reported the teacher. But the cops couldn't do anything, he said. Statute of limitations. Eventually, he said, he and another victim confronted the guy. And told parents what he'd done. The guy was forced to quit. "Jeff," he said, "was a damned good kid." It galls Robinson that the man is walking free. "I feel like this guy killed my son," she said. "There's no statute of limitations for murder and I don't think there should be for child abuse either." Howard Goodman can be reached at hgoodman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6638.
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