Massachusetts’ rape prosecution deadlines will no longer be among the strictest in the nation under a bill Gov. Maura Healey has promised to sign.
State law currently bars nearly all rape prosecutions in cases involving adult victims after 15 years, making it difficult to file charges past that deadline, even if new evidence is likely to lead to a conviction. The new law would guarantee that if DNA matches a suspect after a 15-year period, prosecutors can pursue charges indefinitely.
Mr Healy pushed for a review of rape prosecution deadlines as part of January’s annual budget. The move comes after WBUR and ProPublica found that 47 other states also have longer time to prosecute rape and similar sexual assaults than Massachusetts.
Many of these states have extended deadlines in recent decades as DNA technology has helped solve older cases and as evidence has mounted that police departments across the country are not fully investigating rape cases.
Healey’s proposal survived Congress’ months-long budget process. He announced Wednesday that he signed a $63.4 billion budget that must be approved by July 11. It will come into force once signed.
“DNA evidence today may provide new answers years from now, and our laws need to reflect that reality,” Healey said in a statement. “This change will help law enforcement hold violent criminals accountable while giving survivors another path to justice.”
Prosecutors must file charges within the current 15-year time limit even if a match is found, as required under the previous law. The new law could open the door to prosecution in cases where the statute of limitations has not yet expired.
In Massachusetts, the Legislature has tried unsuccessfully to change the statute of limitations for rape every session since 2011, according to a WBUR investigation. Defense attorneys opposed these bills, arguing that longer deadlines risked infringing on the rights of defendants.
He said rape survivors have been working with Democratic state Rep. Adam Scanlon for the past five years to create a DNA exception. They joined the effort because they were frustrated that justice could no longer be pursued after the deadline, even if new evidence emerged.
“This gave them hope that no one else would have to suffer the same humiliation in the future,” Mr Scanlon said, adding: “This has been a long process driven by the survivors.”
Some survivors, whose cases were too old to prosecute, called for changes. One of them was Louise, who became the focus of an investigation by WBUR and ProPublica. WBUR has agreed not to identify victims of sexual assault without their permission and to identify Louise only by her middle name.
Police and court records say she was raped and stabbed repeatedly in Boston in October 2005 by a man who gave her a ride. Seventeen years later, a DNA match revealed that a local man was the suspect.
DNA evidence also implicated the suspect in another rape. Suffolk County prosecutors indicted the men in both cases in 2022, but were forced to drop the cases because the statute of limitations had expired. He maintained his innocence. If this law had been enacted years ago, Louise might have seen the suspect in her case go to trial.
“It was really shocking,” Louise said. “I never thought the passage of time would be an issue.”
After her interview with WBUR, Louise testified before state lawmakers in support of the DNA exception. She said she was relieved this would become law.
“It’s great to see the government moving in the right direction. It creates a sense of trust, security and justice,” Louise said.
