Clergy abuse sheds light on statute of limitations debate

By Laura Terrell
KCCI TV
February 27, 2019

https://bit.ly/2ElzPy3

The Senate minority leader has introduced new measures that would give child sex abuse survivors more time to come forward, saying Iowa should not be a “sanctuary state” for predators.

State Sen. Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, introduced two bills tackling the issue -- one that would end the statute of limitations for filing criminal charges and another that would end it for trying to collect damages in a civil lawsuit.

“If you were abused as a child, you only have until your 19th birthday to go after the organization that covered the crime,” Petersen said. “Our laws are terrible. We should not be a sanctuary state for predators, and organizations cover up this crime.”

The Diocese of Sioux City on Monday identified 28 priests who were credibly accused of having sexually abused more than 100 boys and girls.

Only one former priest, John Patrick Perdue, is still alive and living in Iowa. The Iowa Court of Appeals in 2011 dismissed lawsuits filed against Perdue and another priest by two alleged victims, ruling that the statute of limitations had expired.

“There was a grooming process,” said West Des Moines attorney Patrick Hopkins, who represented a victim at the time.

Perdue, who was assigned to a parish in Carroll in the early 1980s, performed a sex act on the 18-year-old, according to court documents. There were no criminal charges filed against Perdue, who told KCCI that he denies all the allegations.

That the statute of limitations had expired is a problem Hopkins said he sees “every day.”

The victim said in the lawsuit that it took so long for him to come forward because it wasn’t until a “therapeutic breakthrough” in 2006 that he made the connection between his depression and the abuse he had repressed.

“I have seen case after case of Iowans who, at the time, aren't able to articulate what transpired,” Petersen said. “The time limit is up, and they’re not able to go after the perpetrator.”

The Iowa Catholic Conference opposes the legislation to get rid of statutes of limitation. The public policy agency of Catholic bishops said, “The passage of time makes it difficult for any accused person or institution to defend themselves.”

Petersen’s bills have not made it out of subcommittee.