Last week, a number of Democratic candidates for governor stated that they would unanimously support legislation that would allow an easier pathway for victims of child sexual abuse to seek justice as adults for the crimes that were made against them. The candidates request came in on the heel of Wisconsin’s Women’s March and the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. All of those were in favor for the proposal of the recently failed Child Victims Act. Despite its four time failure in state Legislature, Democrats and survivors are still in strong support for the bill.
Co-chairperson Sarah Pearson of the Women’s March Wisconsin and SNAP founder Peter Isley stated, “The effects of sexual violence have no time limit. Neither should the statutes on child sex crimes. It often takes years for an individual suffering from the life-altering trauma of sexual violence to come forward to seek justice. The law needs to be there when they do.”
Both Pearson and Isley have found disfavor in Milwaukee attorney and former Democratic Party of Wisconsin chairman Matt Flynn due to the fact he represented the Archdiocese of Milwaukee against sex abuse victims claiming to be abused by priests. Flynn was with the law firm Quarles & Brady at the time. Currently, Flynn is accused of involvement with the transfers of abusive priests along with treating the victims that were sexually abused by his clients with great disrespect. He has disputed the claims of his behavior towards the victims and has argued that his role as attorney was to jettison abusive priests from the church.
The National Organization for Women and the Wisconsin Women’s March are calling for Flynn to extinguish his campaign, in which Flynn calls a “smear campaign” against him.
Flynn stated, “My years working as an attorney left me with a profound understanding of the failings of our criminal and civil justice systems in these cases. Victims suffer at the hands of abusers. The criminal and civil justice systems should be improved to spare these victims further suffering in the pursuit of justice.”
Flynn said he would also ask that a court commissioner be present for depositions of child abuse victims, to “protect victims from abuse by bad lawyers” and to “shield good lawyers from untrue allegations of misconduct in the depositions.”
Former state Rep. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, who co-sponsored the Child Victims Act, and said with her power she would “use my office to support survivors and prevent sexual violence.”
“All victims deserve their day in court, especially survivors of child sexual assault. The Child Victims Act is necessary to address the persistent, systemic abuse of children, including the hundreds who were victimized by priests of the Milwaukee Archdiocese in previous decades,” Roys said in a statement. “I have never wavered on my support for survivors of sexual violence.”
If you have been sexually abused please call our attorneys at Alonso Krangle LLP at 800-403-6191 or through our website at www.fightforvictims.com. Our attorneys are sensitive to your story and will assist you in recourse and the compensation you deserve against any person or institution that has abused you or failed to protect you. Please do not hesitate, call us today to review your legal rights.
Dear Andres,
We wanted to express our thank you to you for the wonderful job you did with our daughter’s case. You are a true professional and we are thankful that you are the one who helped us all through this. We couldn’t have asked for anyone better to have on our daughter’s side.
Respectfully,