GOP Assemblywoman Lisa Krasner, Attorney Gloria Allred introduce bill to end statute of limitations for sexual assault

A press conference was held Monday at the Nevada State Legislature in Carson City by Republican Assemblywoman Lisa Krasner and Attorney Gloria Allred regarding Assembly Bill 142, which would eliminate the statute of limitations for the prosecution of sexual assault where there is DNA evidence.

According to the bill, existing law generally requires that an indictment for sexual assault or information regarding an assault to be filed within 20 years after the commission of the offense.

In addition, the bill also stipulates that existing law provides there is no time limitation for prosecution against sexual assault if a police report is filed within that 20 year period after the assault takes place.

AB 142 would change the existing law to include a stipulation for DNA evidence. Section 1 of the bill includes that there is no limitation of time within which a prosecution for sexual assault is required to be commenced if the identity of a person who is accused of committing the sexual assault is established by DNA evidence. This would apply to 1, a person who committed a sexual assault before October 1, 2019 if the statute of limitations has not expired on that date, or 2, commits a sexual assault on or after October 1, 2019.

“For a victim of sexual assault, they receive a life sentence,” said Nevada State Senator Pat Spearman, who is co-sponsoring the bill. “What AB 142 does is gives the hope that one day, they might receive justice.”

So far, 26 states have abolished the statute of limitations when DNA is present, and with this bill, Nevada would become the 27th.

“Every 98 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted,” said Assemblywoman Krasner. “Every 11 minutes, that person is a child.”

This past year, DNA evidence made what some consider to be the greatest breakthrough of criminal DNA with the identification and capture of the Golden State Killer, who committed at least 13 murders, more than 50 rapes, and over 100 burglaries in California from 1974 to 1986.

On April 24, 2018, Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested by Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies after detective Paul Holes uploaded DNA from a Ventura County rape kit to a personal genomics website called GEDmatch, which identified 10 to 20 distant relatives of the Golden State Killer. On April 18, a DNA sample was collected from the door handle of a car DeAngelo had been driving, confirming the DNA match.

In February, a Carson City double homicide which had gone cold decades before was recently reopened after the discovery of similarities between the murders and the Golden State Killer. Investigators hope that DNA evidence can help put the murders of Ray and Jean Ampsacker, killed in Carson City’s former Westerner Motel, to rest.

It comes as no surprise that AB 142 would be introduced not only due to the fact that DNA can be used on a widescale search for criminals, but the fact that the backlog of untested rape kit tests came into the public’s eye a few years ago.

According to www.endthebacklog.org/nevada, there are currently 3,772 untested rape kits in Nevada alone.

“In 2015, Nevada authorities identified nearly 8,000 untested rape kits statewide,” the website says. “As of March 2017, the effort to test these backlogged kits has resulted in 213 offender profiles, 58 DNA matches, 11 arrest warrants, and 8 arrests.”

In 2015, Nevada legislators approved nearly $3.7 million in funding to test backlogged kits. In addition, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office awarded the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department nearly $2 million in the same year to test 2,970 kits.

In 2017, a Nevada law was established requiring law enforcement agencies to submit all newly collected kits to the lab within 30 days, and labs must test kits within 120 days after receiving them.

While there is hope in sight for ending the backlog due to steps taken by both law enforcement and government entities, it seems AB 142 is joining the tide to make sure that if DNA is present at a crime, it will be used as a means of prosecution, no matter the time limit.

“AB 142 tells victims that Nevada is here to support you,” said Allred.