Press release: People v. Bruce Remington Wells

Date: January 17, 2002
Case: People v. Bruce Remington Wells
Contact: Deputy District Attorney Donna Gissing, (916) 874-4628; Sacramento County Sheriff's Detective Kathy Dewante, (916) 874-5203

District Attorney Jan Scully announced that on January 15, 2002, in the case of People v. Bruce Remington Wells, Case Number 01F00463, the defendant was convicted of child molestation by his own plea before the Honorable Cheryl Chun Meegan. The defendant will be sentenced on March 1, 2002 at 8:30 a.m. in Department 63.

On October 4, 2000, the victim, a woman now in her twenties, walked into the Antioch Police Department in Contra Costa County and reported to law enforcement for the first time that her step-father, the defendant, had molested her as a child. The ordinary statute of limitations in her case had long since run out. However, under Penal Code section 803(g), this woman's victimization as a child became a filed case in Sacramento County.

In 1994, the Legislature enacted Penal Code section 803(g), extending the limitations period beyond the six-year limit for certain listed sex offense where it is proved that circumstances listed within the statute apply. Those circumstances include that the crime involve "substantial sexual conduct" and that the victim's allegation be corroborated by independent evidence.

The First District Court of Appeal, in upholding a recent challenge to section 803(g), quoted the State Assembly's Public Safety Committee's analysis of the assembly bill which resulted in the enactment of 803(g), stating, "Sex crimes committed against children are the most heinous of offenses. Unfortunately, many don't bring the crime to the attention of law enforcement until many years later, when the statute of limitations has already expired. Children become double victims - first victimized by the perpetrator and again by the judicial system. This measure will guarantee them their day in court." Stogner v. Superior Court (November 21, 2001) 2001 DJCAR 12305.