Victims, their families rally to change law to help child sex abuse victims

By Jim Lewis
Reading Eagle
April 4, 2017

http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/state-rep-mark-rozzi-rallies-for-bill-to-aid-child-sex-abuse-victims

Mark Rozzi addresses the crowd at a rally Monday on the Capitol steps in Harrisburg. Rozzi, a Muhlenberg Township Democrat, is leading an effort to pass legislation that would eliminate time limits for sexual abuse victims to press criminal charges or file civil lawsuits.

HARRISBURG — She did not speak. Could not, not so soon after her son's death.
Judy Deaven stood at a rally at the state Capitol here in 2015 for changes in the law for victims of childhood sexual abuse, but could not address the crowd. Her son's death simply was too fresh.
Joe Behe, a 46-year-old Reading Central Catholic alumnus, had died of a drug overdose on April 3, 2015, after spending his life tormented by the sexual abuse he suffered as a child at the hands of a Catholic priest in Berks County, Deaven said. He lived as a recluse, unable to hold a job, unable to sleep at night because of fear sparked by his memories of the abuse.
It took him 20 years before he told anyone about the abuse by the priest, who has since died, she recalled, long after the state's statute of limitations had expired on his case.
But Deaven had a second chance Monday, during a rally on the Capitol steps organized by state Rep. Mark Rozzi, a Muhlenberg Township Democrat and abuse survivor. She was there to persuade the General Assembly to allow victims of sexual abuse as children to press criminal charges and file civil lawsuits even after they turn 30.
‘I have to speak for him'
Deaven visited her son's grave Monday morning, then stood before the media lobbying to change Pennsylvania's statute of limitations law, fighting back tears, declaring, “I have to speak for him.”
“My son lived his hell here on Earth,” said Deaven, 65, now living in Harrisburg.
She was one of several rally speakers, including abuse survivors, who urged the Legislature to support a Rozzi-led effort to eliminate the statute of limitations on child abuse cases. Behe went from counselor to counselor, psychologist to psychologist, never finding safety from his demons or justice from the courts, until the abuse “took his life,” she said.
“Joey never felt he would have his day in court,” Deaven said.
Rozzi, who has said he was molested as a child by a priest, is leading a push to eliminate the statute of limitations and provide a retroactive provision, a window of opportunity, for past victims. A vote on his proposal is slated for a vote Tuesday by the House Judiciary Committee. He hopes to garner enough support to amend a bill expected to reach the House floor later this month.
Previous attempts to eliminate the statute of limitations have failed, as some opponents, mostly in the Senate, have insisted Rozzi's proposals are unconstitutional.
“We owe all victims of childhood sexual abuse a chance for justice,” Rozzi said. As for the constitutionality of what he seeks, he wants legislators to allow the issue to go before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and allow that court to decide.
“We legislators can compromise on pensions, liquor, the budget, but we should never compromise our children,” he said.
Child abuse victims now have until the age of 30 to press charges or file civil suits in Pennsylvania, according to state law. But many child abuse survivors don't find the strength to disclose what happened until they're adults, said Abbie Newman, founding executive director of Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center, a Montgomery County advocacy group for victims.
“These victims need to be able to seek their day in court and demand justice so they can heal,” Newman said.
A victim's plea
Justin Abodalo, a Cumru Township man who was sexually assaulted by his uncle, went through phases of fear and denial before he talked about the abuse while a student in high school. A Nassau County, N.Y., jury found his uncle, Jalal Abodalo, guilty of sexual conduct against a child, sexual abuse, sodomy and incest in 2009, according to court records. Jalal Abodalo's appeal is ongoing.
“You actually have to come to terms with what has happened to you,” said Justin, now 27 and a tax attorney in Philadelphia, who spoke at the rally. “Why should the children of Pennsylvania be robbed of any opportunity to face their assailant in court?”
The current statutes of limitation are “arbitrary” and should be changed, said Jennifer R. Storm, the state Victim Advocate and a rally speaker.
“It's time we allow victims the access to the justice that they deserve in their time,” Storm said.
Deaven and other advocates spent the day Monday lobbying legislators, and she had mixed feelings about the results.
“A lot of them don't want to hear the details,” she said. “A lot of them don't know what to say. A lot of them don't understand the pain. Unless you've been there, you don't know my pain.”