The sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby, from one woman in particular, have led to serious change in Nevada.
Gov. Brian Sandoval will sign a bill into law on Tuesday afternoon to extend the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution of rape.
Lise Lotte Lublin, who has accused the “Cosby Show” star of drugging her in 1989 when she visited his Hilton Hotel suite in Las Vegas at the age of 23, testified in support of the new law and asked Nevada Assembly Member Irene Bustamante Adams to introduce bill AB212 earlier this year.
The state’s previous law required that the sexual assault in question have occurred within four years to qualify for prosecution, but the new law will allow incidents as old as 20 years to be prosecuted. Lublin was lobbying for Nevada lawmakers to remove the statute of limitations for rape and sexual assault entirely.
Lublin said her modeling agency connected her with Cosby and he invited her back to his hotel room for what he described as an audition. He allegedly asked her to act, and offered an alcoholic drink to calm her nerves.
“I told him I did not drink, but he insisted, so I drank it … I trusted him because of who he was and how well he was respected around the world,” she said. “My next memory was waking up at home, and for me it felt like several days had passed.”
“I am furious and I have decided to fight for my rights and the rights of every man, woman and child who have been victims of a sexual crime,” Lublin continued. “I have contacted every senator and assembly person from the state of Nevada and I will continue to rally every victim of sexual assault, every rape crisis center and every supporter who believes in the right to have an offender tried in a court of law.”
To date, over 30 women have come forward with similar allegations against Cosby. In April, three more women detailed sexual assault claims in the offices of attorney Gloria Allred, who is also representing Lublin.
Both Allred and Lublin will speak at a press conference at 3 p.m. PT on Tuesday, along with Adams and Linda Kirkpatrick — another woman who claims Cosby sexually assaulted her in Nevada.
Kirkpatrick claimed to have met Cosby during a mixed doubles tennis tournament in Las Vegas in 1981, and then attended his show at the Las Vegas Hilton. After arriving in his dressing room, she says Cosby gave her a “tall, thin champagne type of glass,” which contained a clear liquid that “tasted terrible.”
Kirkpatrick said he “was on top of me kissing me forcefully” even though she “had no interest in sex of any kind” with him.
She added she has “no conscious recollection of how I got home” and the next day “began violently throwing up … as a result of what I believe to be ingesting some kind of drug.”
Cosby’s attorney, Martin Singer, has repeatedly denied the allegations.
“The new, never-before-heard claims from women who have come forward in the past two weeks with unsubstantiated, fantastical stories about things they say occurred 30, 40 or even 50 years ago have escalated far past the point of absurdity,” Singer has said in a statement.