Fatal drive-by B’klyn shoot
CALIFORNIA’S state assembly is close to accomplishing something that New York lawmakers could not do — change the way sexual assault is prosecuted.
Inspired by fallen funnyman Bill Cosby, elected leaders in the Golden State passed a bill last week to end the time limit for prosecuting rape and felony sex crimes.
Under California’s current law, rape and felony sex crimes must be tried within 10 years, unless DNA evidence comes to light after that time period.
And sex crimes against children younger than 18 must be prosecuted before the victim turns 40. Cosby stands accused of assaulting more than 35 women in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, but in several of their cases, the statute of limitations has expired.
“There are some crimes that are so heinous that there should never be a statute of limitations,” Assemblyman Travis Allen Times. Assemblyman Mike Gipson agreed, calling the bill “long overdue” and saying its passage would “ensure that criminals be placed in jail” no matter when charges are brought against them. The legislation now moves to the state senate, and if the governor signs the bill, crimes including rape and continuous sexual child abuse would no longer have a statute of limitations and could be prosecuted at any time. Though the legislation is not yet a done deal, it is light years ahead of anything New York has done on the issue. In Albany, Democratic lawmakers were pushing for different versions of the Child Victims Act that would either extend the time that child sex abuse victims can bring legal cases or eliminate the time limit altogether. But Senate Republicans blocked the measures told the Los Angeles from coming to a vote before the 2016 legislative session ended in June.
The missed opportunity angered child sex abuse victims who have been unable to get justice because of laws shielding predators from prosecution.
The victims have been trying to pressure state lawmakers to reform New York’s statute of limitations, which bars child sex abuse victims from pursuing criminal charges or civil litigation after their 23rd birthday.
The bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Margaret Markey (D-Queens) would have increased the time a sexual abuse case could be brought by five years, opened a six-month window to revive old cases, and treated public and private entities the same when it comes to sex abuse.
The bill moved through committee, but never came to the floor for a vote.
Unlike the Senate, the Assembly in the past has passed legislation dealing with the issue, though the last time was in 2008. A 22-YEAR-OLD man was killed in a drive-by shooting just steps away from his Brooklyn home early Monday, police said.
Elijah Benjamin was shot in the chest when gunfire erupted from a red vehicle heading south down Avenue I near E. 34th St. in Flatlands at about 1 a.m., police said.
Benjamin, who lived on the same block as the shooting, was on his way back from the nearby Fruits and Vegetables Deli with his girlfriend and two other friends when the gunfire broke out, police said.
Paramedics rushed Benjamin to Kings County Hospital, where he died.
Witnesses told investigators they heard three or four gunshots, police sources said.
Two .40-caliber shell casings were recovered at the scene.
No arrests have been made and police did not immediately release a description of the suspect.