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Survivor urges change to statute of limitations as Vermont Senate Judiciary considers H.626 on sexual extortion
Summary
A survivor testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that Vermont’s 3-year criminal statute of limitations left her without recourse after a 2012 hidden-camera recording surfaced years later; law enforcement and advocates told the committee H.626 adds a sexual-extortion offense, raises some penalties and extends limits for recorded/disseminated material.
A survivor of image-based abuse told the Vermont Senate Judiciary Committee on April 1 that the state’s criminal statute of limitations prevented prosecution after a hidden-camera video of her was posted online.
“Kiera Kilburn, a resident of East Burke, said the recording was made in 2012 and that she first discovered the video in 2018. “A video of me undressing had been posted on a pornographic website,” Kilburn said, and she described being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and ongoing fear of being recorded in public.
The committee was taking up H.626, a bill that creates a distinct sexual-extortion offense, adjusts how existing voyeurism and disclosure offenses are structured, and changes statute-of-limitations provisions. Kilburn told the panel the statute’s three-year limit had expired before she learned of the recording and that police found other victims when they searched the suspect’s devices; she said the suspect had researched Vermont’s statute of limitations online.
Why it matters: Kilburn and advocates said the bill would close enforcement gaps for nonconsensual disclosure of…
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