The
statute of limitations for criminal prosecution of sexual assault has just gone
from four years to 20 in Nevada—and that’s because of the wave of accusations
against the comedian.
The flood of
sexual-assault allegations against Bill Cosby isn’t
just making headlines—it’s now having an effect on state-level public policy.
On Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Brian Sandoval signed a bill into
law that will extend the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution of
sexual assault in Nevada. At a press conference after the private signing
ceremony, the bill’s primary sponsor, Democratic Assemblywoman Irene Bustamante
Adams, appeared with Lise-Lotte Lublin and Linda Kirkpatrick, two women who
say Cosby sexually assaulted them in Nevada in the 1980s.
Lublin in particular lobbied hard for the
passage of the bill, which increases the statute of limitations in cases of
sexual assault from four to 20 years. In testimony before Nevada lawmakers, she
told the story of her alleged encounter with Cosby. She says she was assaulted
in 1989 in a Las Vegas hotel after the comedian served her two drugged drinks
and she passed out. When she learned of the allegations made by other women who
had met Cosby, she decided to file a police report, she said. It was then that
she discovered that Cosby could not be charged due to the four-year statute of
limitations.
“I am furious and I have decided to fight for my rights and the
rights of every man, woman, and child who have been victims of a sexual crime,”
Lublin said. “I have contacted every senator and
assembly person from the state of Nevada, and I will continue to rally every
victim of sexual assault, every rape crisis center, and every supporter who
believes in the right to have an offender tried in a court of law.”
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