Although some of the lawyers representing accusers in the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse case have said the state’s heavily scrutinized statute of limitations for child sex-abuse claims would not affect their lawsuits, they were hopeful the reverse might be true.
Some attorneys and lawmakers were cautiously optimistic that the embattled former coach’s case, along with its unrelenting media complement, could be a much-needed boost for legislation that began to stir in response to the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal in the last decade but has largely failed to advance. There were two bills — one aiming to expand the statute of limitations, the other, to remove it — awaiting word from the Pennsylvania General Assembly at the start of 2012.
