The new legislation makes changes in the state’s sexual battery laws in order to help prosecutions and gives victims more time to report cases.
Senate Bill 692 38-0, a second committee substitute for Orlando Democratic Sen. Linda Stewart’s SB 692, passed Wednesday with the cooperation of Republican Sen. Gayle Harrell from Stuart and Republican Sen. Keith Perry of Gainesville.
The bill that was finally approved lengthens the time that victims who were assaulted while incapacitated have to report the crime. Now there would be an additional year on the statute of limitations in cases where a victim is unaware of the sexual battery for a period of time because of mental defection, mental incapacitation, or physical helplessness.
Additionally:
• Prosecution for these types of cases could begin within one year after the date the victim obtains knowledge of the offense, or on the date on which the offense is reported to the law, whichever comes first.
• The bill’s definition of sexual battery cases that can lead to life imprisonment has been expanded to include cases where a person uses or threatens to use physical force that could result in serious personal injury or death.
• Prosecutors are given more power to bring up a suspect’s record of other previous crimes or acts involving a sexual offense. They no longer need to prove that the prior offenses had “substantial similarity” to the case.
“This is a really important bill, because it establishes across the statute what that definition means,” Harrell said.
