Man Who Punched Abusing Priest Seeks Change to Molesting Laws

Will Lynch admits he punched the priest he accused of molesting him as a child decades ago. And now he's launching another campaign against child molesters.

A political campaign.

Lynch claims that he and his younger brother were abused by Rev. Jerold Lindner on a "religious camping trip" 35 years ago, when the pair were 7 and 4 years old, respectively, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

He filed suit claiming that Lindner raped him and made him have oral sex with his brother -- and decades later, as an adult, was acquitted of assault after he punched Lindner -- and now wants to have the state eliminate the statute of limitations for filing charges against alleged perpetrators of sexual abuse, the newspaper reported.

That would mean prosecutors could file charges against an alleged abuser no matter when the victims step forward.

The quest may be "quixotic" for the "45-year-old economically struggling San Francisco resident," the newspaper reported. He needs to collect 504,760 signatures to qualify a measure for the November 2014 ballot.

Experts agree that the chance of an amendment to the statute of limitations is unlikely to go through the Legislature, however, so if anyone is going to make a change, it will be through the initiative process, the newspaper reported.