State urged to change sex-abuse law

By Chris Mckenna
Times Herald-Record
June 18, 2017

http://www.recordonline.com/news/20170618/state-urged-to-change-sex-abuse-law

MOUNT MARION - At age 60, Brian O’Leary is still deeply scarred from the sexual abuse a neighbor inflicted on him more than 40 years ago when he was growing up in Saugerties.

The perpetrator lived across the street and worked at IBM with O’Leary’s father.

For five years, he repeatedly assaulted the boy in his home and his car, a string of violations that began when O’Leary was only 12 and ended when he stopped his tormentor at age 17 - because he realized how badly he wanted to kill himself.

O’Leary was so traumatized that he told no adults about the abuse then and couldn’t bring himself to tell his parents until many years later.

His abuser died in Florida in 1984, unpunished for the crimes he committed and the emotional havoc O’Leary has carried for decades.

Today, O’Leary is part of a push in Albany to change state law so that others who were sexually abused as children have more time as adults to seek criminal charges against their abusers and sue any culpable institutions.

He and other advocates argue that New York’s statute of limitations - which prevents child-abuse victims from seeking justice after they turn 23 - is much too short, given the many years it often takes survivors to come to terms with what happened to them and muster the courage to come forward.

Reforms that would either eliminate or extend that time limit have been sought for more than a decade, without success, but have reached a critical point in the closing days of this year’s legislative session.

On June 7, for the first time since 2008, the Assembly passed a version of the Child Victims Act, a 139-7 vote with both Democrats and Republicans in support.

And one week later, Gov. Andrew Cuomo presented the same bill to the Legislature and stated the sort of unequivocal support that advocates had hoped for.

“This is about justice,” Cuomo said, “and I urge this measure to be passed before the end of session and allow these victims the ability to hold their abusers accountable - something they’ve wrongly been denied for far too long.”

The bill approved by the Assembly would retain the current five-year time limit for criminal charges but start the count at age 23 instead of 18, giving victims until age 28 to seek prosecution.

Victims would have until age 50 to file lawsuits.

And all abuse survivors currently prevented by state law from bringing cases would have one year to do so - a one-year “lookback” that advocates had sought.

Opponents include the New York State Catholic Conference, which argues the bill focuses more on lawsuits than on prosecuting the abusers, and could force institutions like the Catholic Church to defend themselves against allegations that date back decades.

In separate memos to lawmakers, the conference opposed that legislation but supported an alternative bill that would eliminate the statute of limitations for certain sex offenses for criminal charges and extend it to age 28 for civil claims.

All eyes are on the Senate, which has never voted on the Child Victims Act.

After Cuomo weighed in last week, Democratic senators called on the Republicans who control the chamber to bring the bill to the floor for a vote before the Legislature ends its half-year session on Wednesday.

A group of breakaway Democrats who share power with the Senate Republicans introduced a rival bill on June 5 that would eliminate the statute of limitations for child-abuse cases; whether they also support the Assembly bill is unclear.

Gary Greenberg, an abuse survivor who has helped lead the campaign for the Child Victims Act, said he supports both bills.

He thanked Cuomo for backing the Assembly version last week, saying he had “heard our voices seeking justice, protecting kids and getting predators off our streets.”

Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said he supports extending the statute of limitations for sex crimes against children, while cautioning that the memories of victims and witnesses erode over time.

“I don’t see it hurting,” Hoovler said. “I’d rather see it be discretionary on the part of the district attorneys to see if there’s a case, rather than throwing it out at the get go.”

Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra remembers instances when that happened years ago, when he worked for Ulster County Family Violence Unit and met adults who had been sexually abused as children but came forward too late for police to bring charges under state law.

“Your heart really goes out to those victims,” he said.

Sinagra, who has met with O’Leary to discuss his experiences, urged state lawmakers to pass the Child Victims Act.

“Protecting children’s rights is at the forefront of our criminal justice system, and it should be,” he said.

O’Leary, who lived in San Francisco for 33 years, moved back to Saugerties to care for his mother in 2014 and now lives in the same house he grew up in, his abuser’s former house visible from his front window.

The psychological damage from his childhood experience had no statute of limitations.

“This happened to me 40 years ago and I’m still living with this, day by day, minute by minute,” he said.

Even though it’s too late to go after his abuser, he has met with his state lawmakers to push for the Child Victims Act to help other survivors and gain some satisfaction.

Nothing could be more meaningful, he said, getting choked up as he spoke.

“Granted, he’s dead,” O’Leary said. “What would this legislation mean? I won. And I can move forward. It’s that goddamn simple.”

The Senate has three session days left this year - Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week - in which to take up the bill.