(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) A New York Democrat snared by the same law that state legislators passed in order to go after then-President Donald Trump with what they hoped would be a barrage of spurious lawfare attacks has now declared the law he voted for to be unconstitutional.
New York State Sen. Kevin Parker denounced the Adult Survivors Act—after formally denying rape allegations recently levied against him, according to the New York Post.
The act allowed a one-year window for the revival of civil claims related to sexual offenses committed against people age 18 or older. It expired in November 2023.
The alleged incident involving Parker took place in 2004.
A woman named Olga Jean-Baptiste, who worked with Parker to provide flood relief in Haiti, accused him of raping her as they worked in her apartment one evening.
“These allegations are absolutely untrue,” Parker said. “My work and advocacy will continue.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called the allegations “deeply disturbing.”
Parker had several previous run-ins with law enforcement, including assault of a traffic officer and the smashing of a camera belonging to a reporter taking pictures outside of his home.
The Adult Survivors Act enabled an estimated 3,700 claims involving decades-old allegations—some based on very little evidence.
New York based socialite and advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, a serial rape accuser, ultimately was the only one known to have brought an allegation against Trump, for an alleged assault in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.
Carroll, who also was one of the law’s original lobbyists, had her lawsuit financed by LinkedIn billionaire Reid Hoffman. Although the Manhattan jury decided the hazy evidence failed to prove rape, it charged Trump with sexual assault, requiring a much lower threshold.
Carroll later received a massive payday for saying Trump defamed her by denying that it took place.
Another accuser, Liz Stein, claimed she faced abuse from Jeffrey Epstein as a young woman.
“I feel like I’ve been in jail for almost three decades,” said Stein. “And it’s more than time for me and the other victims to be free of that prison that we’ve been in, and for the people who are accountable to be held accountable.”
Legislators modeled the law after the state’s Child Victims Act, which opened a two-year window in 2019 during which almost 11,000 people sued churches, hospitals, schools, camps, scout groups and other institutions over abuse they said they suffered as children.
