Lawsuit against ex-judge tests Utah law on sex abuse cases
Source: Associated Press
Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press
Updated 5:07 pm, Monday, May 14, 2018
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — In a key test of a state sexual abuse law, the Utah Supreme Court heard arguments Monday in a lawsuit against a former federal judge accused of assaulting a teenage witness when he was a prosecutor handling a white supremacist serial-killer trial.
The law under consideration allows people who say they were sexually abused to sue decades later. It was passed as recognition that it often takes people years to confront what happened.
The lawsuit was filed by a woman who says Richard W. Roberts abused her in 1981.
Roberts has acknowledged he had sex with the woman when she was 16, but he said it was consensual and began after the trial. His lawyers want the $25 million lawsuit dismissed, arguing the claims are too old.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Lawsuit-against-ex-judge-tests-Utah-law-on-sex-12913288.php