Quote:
Originally Posted by Stewie
Isn't there a statute of limitations, or does it not apply in these types of cases?
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I was wondering the same thing, this isn't murder or something that can be punishable by life in prison, and the woman is now 31 years old, how could the statute of limitations have possibly not run out?
I was bored enough to look through the huge California penal code to first find the exact law he violated (since she was 17 and not either 16, or 14 or younger, it looks like the most he can get is 1 year, but it'll put him on the sex offender registry), and then to find the time allowed for a criminal complaint for that particular law. It looks to me like this guy is going to get nailed because of the priest sex abuse cases.
Apparently, they recently amended the CA statute of limitations to give victims of various sex crimes while they were minors (e.g. priests molesting boys years ago who are now adults) another shot at it. For this particular crime, before they amended it, the statute should have run out 3 years ago at the absolute latest, but the priest sex abuse laws give the DA one year to prosecute after a victim reports the sexual abuse to the cops if the statute had run out and if a small list of other requirements are met, which have probably all been met in this case.
I'm guessing this woman decided to go to the cops after seeing this guy in the news. He would have probably gotten away with it if he had stayed with his family and kept a low profile for the rest of his life.