Bill would lift time limit on prosecuting sex assaults

     Associated Press
      CARSON CITY -- A Senate committee was urged Tuesday to support an Assembly bill giving prosecutors an unlimited amount of time to file sexual assault charges -- the same as murder cases.
      AB97, reviewed by Senate Judiciary, already has won unanimous Assembly approval. It would take sexual assault out of a long list of crimes that can't be prosecuted after four years.
      "This bill will tell the rapist and the victim that the state of Nevada ranks rape with murder," said Sharyn Peal, a rape victim and administrator with the state Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. "I would like to see you even up the score between these animals and their victims."
      AB97, sponsored by Assemblywoman Jan Evans, D-Sparks, originally called for a 3-year extension on the statute of limitations for sexual assaults, from four to seven years.
      But after testimony from Peal and police officers, the Assembly Judiciary Committee decided on no prosecution limit, joining at least 12 other states that have passed such laws.
      Senate Judiciary Chairman Mark James, R-Las Vegas, said he supported the bill but was concerned that unlimited prosecution time would discourage people from reporting rapes.
      "What I don't want to do is take away the impetus and motivation to (file charges) and then have the rapist go out and rape someone else," James said. "How do you keep the encouragement in the law to pursue these cases immediately?"
      Ben Graham of the Nevada District Attorneys Association said the law shouldn't discourage early reporting. James responded that he hoped rape crisis centers would continue to educate victims to press charges as soon as possible.
      Peal admitted that the law wouldn't help her because the statute of limitations ran out on her 1992 rape before the rapist was ever caught. If passed, AB97 couldn't apply retroactively to rape suspects who got through the four-year period without facing charges.
      Still, Peal said she thought the bill would have some impact and could help other women avoid the experience she had.
      "My nightmare started on the day of the rape and will last for the rest of my life," Peal said. "I don't have the luxury of a magical date when all my fear will go away."