CALIFORNIA
KCRA
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —The California Legislature is advancing a bill driven in part by prosecutors’ difficulty in pursuing sexual assault charges against Bill Cosby.
SB813 would eliminate the state’s 10-year statute of limitations on rape and child molestation charges.
“When only two in 100 rapists are actually convicted and go to jail, maybe we’re doing something wrong,” the bill’s author Connie Leyva, D-Chino, said. “No one is ever raped by accident. It is intentional and it harms these victims.”
Previous versions failed years ago in the Senate Public Safety Committee. But the new bill by Leyva passed the committee 4-0 on Tuesday after testimony by witnesses including lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents 30 of Cosby’s accusers.
Several of his accusers told senators they are unable to bring charges now because they didn’t come forward years ago.
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