New York State has decided to treat rape more seriously. On Thanksgiving, a new law went into effect which eliminates the statute of limitations for civil litigation against alleged rapists. Immediately, a case was filed related to an incident in the winter of 1995-96.
The lawsuit was among the first filed under the Adult Survivors Act, which went into effect at 12 a.m. on Thanksgiving.
The law gives sexual assault victims one year to sue their alleged assailant regardless of when the attack occurred, and waives laws setting statutes of limitations for such cases.
It involves a certain twice-impeached, disgraced ex-president.
The writer E. Jean Carroll sued Donald Trump for allegedly raping her in the 1990s just after midnight Thursday as a New York law took effect opening a window for sex assault victims to sue their alleged assailants.
Carroll’s battery and defamation lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan accuses Trump of pinning her against a wall and then raping her inside a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman’s on Fifth Ave. near E. 58th St. between the fall of 1995 and spring of 1996.
Carroll has made this allegation before and is suing Trump in federal court for defamation because he insulted her while denying the charge. That case is separate for this one, and controversial because the Biden administration’s Department of Justice is defending Trump, concerned future presidents may be deluged with defamation allegations whether they have merit or not.
There are a lot of other complications with this case, and I guess it’s important to step back a little from the personalities involved. I find Carroll credible and Trump is one of least trustworthy people I’ve ever encountered in public life. But obviously there are principles involved here, and we know that false allegations can be made for political purposes. Remember that Bill Clinton was subjected to the civil lawsuit from Paula Jones which led to l’affaire Lewinsky, and also to charges of rape from Juanita Broaddrick. I suppose the idea behind a statute of limitations is also controversial and worthy of discussion. There has always been an exception for murder but wide agreement that lesser crimes should have an expiration date. But then there’s still a distinction between civil and criminal liability.
Carroll has been seeking a DNA sample for Trump, in an effort to match it to a sample from the dress she says she was wearing during the alleged attack. She also has two contemporaneous who will testify that she told them of the incident at the time. So, there’s a possibility that she can build a compelling case against Trump. If there’s a DNA match, that would be very hard for Trump to explain given his complete dismissal of her description of what happened that day.
It seems to me that she must have a high degree of confidence that there will be a match or she wouldn’t persist with such determination. I certainly believe Trump is capable of such a crime, and now maybe we will have a chance to find out if there is proof.
