U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee

FLINT, Michigan — Patrick Kildee’s claims that his second cousin Congressman Dale E. Kildee sexually abused him 50 years ago will only be tried in one court: public opinion.

There won’t be a trial. No criminal or civil charges. No opportunities to close the case with a guilty or innocent verdict.

The now highly publicized accusations made by the alleged victim and his family members won’t ever see a courtroom because of laws that prevent it.

Statutes of limitations on alleged child abuse has become a contentious subject in recent years, with cases making national headlines in dozens of states where child advocates have fought to reform the law for cases involving children while others have argued that allowing decades-old accusations into courts would create unfair trials.

In a televised interview last week, Patrick Kildee described the abuse that allegedly started when he was 15 years old, as repressed memories that came out later in life. U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee, D-Flint, has refuted his second cousin’s allegations as “completely false and shameless.”

But when it comes to legal cases, repressed memories are a controversial psychological phenomenon that even child advocates have backed away from as a reason to lift statute of limitation laws.

In the interview in which Patrick Kildee made the claims, he said it was when he got out of a state hospital in his early 30s that the “repressed memories came out.”

“I was angry because I could see,” he said during the interview.

Patrick Kildee was eventually diagnosed schizophrenic manic depressive and was in and out of a mental hospital for psychiatric counseling, according to the televised report.

The Journal has been unable to reach Patrick Kildee for comment.

Darryl L. Douglas, a Flint-based clinical psychologist who has worked with children, said uncovering a repressed memory takes intense and lengthy therapy. They aren’t easily recovered, nor simply triggered by later events, he said.

“When there’s an experience of trauma that our brain deems too risky for us to deal with, then our brain may take the memory of that event and things associated with it and put it on a shelf somewhere way back in the unconsciousness,” said Douglas, a psychology lecturer at the University of Michigan-Flint.

“It’s an automatic defense mechanism. Once that happens it tends to be a relatively permanent thing. The chances of just having a sudden recollection of a presented memory are pretty low.”

Many child advocates working to repeal statue of limitation laws — a revived effort after a series of sexual abuse allegations surfaced against Catholic priests — no longer use repressed memories as a defense for reforms because they’ve been widely discredited, said Massachusetts Citizens for Children Executive Director Jetta Bernier.

But there are compelling reasons for why victims don’t speak out until so many years later, she said.

There are intimidation methods by the abuser, fears no on will believe them, guilt and shame, Bernier said. There is also often a disassociation between the trauma and the psychological and physical wounds such as depression, substance abuse, obesity and relationship issues, she said.

“Children often think they’re the only ones being abused and that something is wrong with them and they try to push it aside and try to cope with life,” said Bernier, whose agency leads the Enough Abuse Campaign that calls for repealing statute of limitation laws on child sexual abuse in Massachusetts.

“They just stuff it and think it will go away. When you report sexual abuse, it’s not an easy thing to do. This is not something people want to deal with but sometimes they’re forced to because of the way their life is going.”

She said surveys have showed that many people don’t disclose abuse stories until their mid-forties, sometimes when their own children reach the age they were abused.

Statutes differ by states where some laws demand people report the abuse not long after the age of 16 or 18.

“That’s way too early for them to understand the connection between the past and the trauma,” Bernier said.

In Michigan, a child has until a year after they turn 18 to file a sexual abuse claim in civil court for any allegations that would have occurred when they were a minor.

Bills in the state House and Senate have aimed to extend that window, which the Michigan Catholic Conference has fiercely lobbied against in Lansing.

Similar legislation has been introduced in other states, including Alaska, Maine and Delaware that have extended or eliminated statutes of limitations for civil and criminal cases involving child sex abuse.

Some states, including Connecticut and Pennsylvania, give alleged victims decades after they turn 18 to take the accused to court, in some case as late as near 50 years old.

But legal experts say there are legitimate reasons for statutes of limitation, such as a defendant’s ability to account for whereabouts on the dates of the alleged abuse.

“They’re not designed to help someone get away with something,” Flint-based defense attorney Frank Manley said of the laws. “They’re designed to preserve a person’s right to fairly defend against an accusation.”

He said with the exception of DNA and other breakthrough evidence, cases that emerge years after the fact risk turning into he-said, she-said testimonies.

“Time has a way of eroding the history of events,” Manley said. “Evidence are destroyed, people’s memories are faded. It really limits your ability to go back and recreate what happened.”

Dale Kildee has vowed to clear his name.

It is unclear whether he will seek legal recourse for defamation but his office hasn’t ruled it out.

Kildee’s chief of staff, Callie Coffman, told The Journal Monday that the congressman was exploring “legal options” to protect his reputation and that he won’t let the accusations go “unchallenged.”