Bill Cosby Assault Allegations Trigger Change in Nevada Sex-Crime Law
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.
Reuters
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, Governor 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 because of the four-year statute of limitations.
Lublin and her husband subsequently met with Assemblywoman Adams to discuss drafting what would become the new law, AB212. Adams sponsored the bill on behalf of Lublin, who is one of her constituents.
“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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