BishopAccountability.org
	Bill Stops Clock on Abuse Cases Groups Push Lawmakers to Get Rid of Statute of Limitations for Children By Brooks Egerton The Dallas Morning News [Texas] April 11, 2005 Stephanie Burt and son Tommy Burt, who was abused as a boy, are working with Sen. Rodney Ellis to get legislation passed that eliminates the statute of limitations in child abuse cases. Kenneth Eugene Ward is a pedophile, by his own admission, and he is fast becoming a poster child for people who want to eliminate Texas' deadline for prosecuting child sexual abuse. That deadline – a criminal case must commence by the accuser's 28th birthday – may be the only reason he is free in Dallas today. The former East Texas schoolteacher and Baptist preacher has admitted fondling or sexually assaulting dozens of boys, crimes that could have brought him a life sentence. Instead, he served four years for a single indecency conviction; all the other cases were too old to prosecute. Now a grass-roots lobbying campaign in Austin, led by one of those victims and his mother, is pushing legislation that would eliminate the abuse statute of limitations. Several prominent lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans alike, have endorsed the bill and say it will pass this year – but only if they can get it before the full House and Senate for votes. "The Ward case is such an appalling injustice," said Senate sponsor Rodney Ellis, a Houston Democrat who is more often associated with checking prosecutorial power and ensuring defendants' rights. Top backers in the House include Rep. Toby Goodman, R-Arlington, who's considered that chamber's family-law expert. Also Online Brad Hawkins reports But the proposal may be stalled in key committees. One is the House criminal jurisprudence panel led by Terry Keel, R-Austin. Mr. Keel, a former sheriff and prosecutor who is now a criminal defense attorney, would not comment. Another possible trouble spot is the Senate criminal justice panel, which Mr. Ellis' fellow Houston Democrat John Whitmire heads. "I'm completely flummoxed as to what is holding up this bill," Ellis spokesman Jeremy Warren said. "It's tough on crime and ensures sex offenders are brought to justice." He said Mr. Whitmire's committee has scheduled hearings for lesser priorities of Mr. Ellis' – but not this high priority. If it's not scheduled in the next few weeks, there won't be time this session to pass it. Larance Coleman, who manages the committee for Mr. Whitmire, said he's simply trying to juggle competing demands for attention. "We have 225 bills pending in committee," including several from Mr. Ellis, he said. "It's kind of time to hear somebody else's bills." Some concerns Mr. Coleman expressed concern that eliminating the prosecution deadline could lead to more cases based on the controversial concept of repressed memory. Supporters say the bill wouldn't lead to large numbers of prosecutions, because old memories aren't easily verified. Indeed, even quickly reported abuse cases are typically difficult to prove because physical evidence is often lacking, said Rachel Horton, spokeswoman for Dallas County District Attorney Bill Hill. Mr. Hill, like several Texas prosecutors, backs the legislation. "There are clearly some provable [old] cases that were never reported or never investigated," Ms. Horton said. "If they can be corroborated, there's no reason we shouldn't pursue them." Eliminating the deadline would put Texas on par with at least 11 other states and federal legislation that President Bush signed in 2003, according to data compiled by legislative sponsors. A few states are considering bills like the one pending in Texas. Here as elsewhere, the push is coming largely from clergy-abuse victims and their relatives. Why? One reason is that they've learned the power of organizing in recent years via national organizations such as SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. And they've learned that institutions sometimes have smoking guns in their personnel files – the very evidence they need to support allegations. "Clergy-abuse victims feel betrayed several times over," said SNAP's David Clohessy, "once by a shrewd and manipulative clergyman, then by an insensitive church bureaucracy and finally by a rigid, archaic and dangerously restrictive statute of limitations." Publicity about clergy scandals has helped educate people about the need for the proposal pending in Austin, said Christie Goodman, a daughter of and aide to Mr. Goodman. In the past, she said, her father "had a lot of fear that there wouldn't be enough support." Why they don't tell Advocates of the change say they face the challenge of explaining to skeptics why children don't report abuse when it happens or by early adulthood. Among the reasons experts cite: Victims may feel ashamed if they didn't resist the sexual activity or enjoyed fringe benefits, such as gifts and extra attention. They often fear they won't be believed because of their abusers' authority – as relatives, teachers, clergy – and because they often think of themselves as lone victims. Many try to bury the hurt and confront it only when a crisis ensues years later, perhaps because of depression, drug abuse or sexual dysfunction, experts say. Tommy Burt, who is lobbying the Legislature with his mother, said the fear that kept him silent had a lot to do with living in a small town and being a male victim. He was about 6 when Mr. Ward, who was his pastor in Henderson, began molesting him in the 1970s. Confession in hand Mr. Burt said he understands the legal rationale for prosecution deadlines: Cases weaken with age for both sides, because witnesses die, memories fade and evidence gets lost. But "we have a written confession," he stressed. Authorities obtained the confession in 1998 after Mr. Burt told his mother and counselor what happened to him. That led to a police investigation and charges involving several East Texas boys, all of which were dismissed as too old. Mr. Ward also pleaded guilty to fondling one boy in Grand Prairie, where he had been living more recently. He has since been released to Dallas. His victims can take some comfort in knowing that he has a criminal record, that he has done prison time, that he remains under parole supervision and that he is a registered sex offender. Other admitted abusers not only have avoided all that but also have retained church-related jobs – like the South Texas priest whom The Dallas Morning News recently found working at a cathedral and diocesan university across the Rio Grande in Mexico. His four known accusers, who began complaining in 2002, are too old to press criminal charges. Mr. Ward, 58, said he had voluntarily been in therapy repeatedly before his arrest. He said he didn't know whether he might have gone on abusing if Mr. Burt had not triggered the criminal investigation. "I had convinced myself I could be around children," he said, "which is foolishness." Mr. Burt and his mother, Stephanie Burt, aren't lobbying in hopes of sending Mr. Ward back to prison. Cases that are already too old would stay that way under the bill. But any that were prosecutable at the time the law took effect would become prosecutable indefinitely. "The goal is not retroactive vengeance," said Jonathan English, chief of staff for House co-sponsor Debbie Riddle, R-Houston. "It's to make the future safe for kids."