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" Three months after a judge announced that Bill Cosby will stand trial in Pennsylvania for allegedly assaulting a woman, California is taking action to end the statute of limitations in rape cases with a new law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown. The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that Brown signed a bill that will effectively eradicate the 10-year time limit for prosecutors to file charges against rape and child molestation. Starting in 2017, the law will end the statute of limitaitons in certain cases and end the limit on older cases (as long as the statute of limitations hasn&amp;#039;t already expired). This makes California the 18th state to adopt similar legislation, according to the AP.  &amp;quot;[The law] tells every rape and sexual assault victim in California that they matter and that, regardless of when they are ready to come forward, they will always have an opportunity to seek justice in a court of law,&amp;quot; California state Sen. Connie Leyva, D-Chino, said in a statement. &amp;quot;Rapists should never be able to evade legal consequences simply because an arbitrary time limit has expired.&amp;quot; On Wednesday afternoon, Gloria Allred, a lawyer who currently represents over 30 women accusing Cosby of sexual assault and/or misconduct, told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement: &amp;quot;A number of women, including many of my clients, had accused Bill Cosby of sexually assaulting them; but it was too late for California prosecutors to file a case even if they concluded that they had sufficient evidence to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt. Even though it was too late for these accusers, we decided that we should work to change the law to help others...The passage of this new law means that the courthouse doors will no longer be slammed shut in the face of rape victims. It puts sexual predators on notice that the passage of time may no longer protect them from serious criminal consequences for their acts of sexual violence.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a49061/bill-cosby/>