Efforts Boosted To Bring Charges Linked To Detroit Rape Kits
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - Officials say they're increasing efforts to investigate leads and bring charges after the DNA testing of thousands of sexual assault kits discovered in a Detroit police property storage facility in 2009.
Details are being finalized, but those involved in the Wayne County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force said they want to increase the rate at which leads will be investigated and prosecuted, prioritized by a focus on the worst offenders, the statute of limitations and the risk to public safety.
"Our duty is to get rapists off our streets and deliver the justice victims are owed," Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a statement.
Schuette announced the stepped-up efforts along with Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, state police Director Colonel Kriste Kibbey Etue and Detroit police Chief James Craig.
Plans call for the task force to increase the rate at which leads produced by the testing will be investigated and prosecuted, prioritized by a focus on the worst offenders, the statute of limitations and the risk to public safety.
The task force is funded by participants and a one-time, $3 million state appropriation approved by the legislature last year. Following the development of a work and spending plan, the task force is expected to operate in an expanded capacity until Sept. 30, 2017.
More than 11,000 previously untested rape kits were discovered in 2009, including some dating back to the 1980s. The state police's Forensic Science Division has worked with privately contracted laboratories, police and prosecutors to get the kits tested.
As of last month, the Wayne County prosecutor's office had identified more than 1,130 suspects, including 255 possible serial rapists, and 15 convictions already have been secured. Detroit earlier received $4 million from the state to specifically work on testing kits.
"These additional resources will enable us to not only continue our work on the Detroit cases, but will enable us to follow through on DNA hits outside of Wayne County and the state," said Worthy, who has championed efforts to get the kits tested.
Each entity has assumed the following responsibilities:
Attorney General: Investigation and prosecution of cross-jurisdictional and out-of-state cold case sexual assaults, in conjunction with county prosecutors: Two full-time investigators and one Assistant Attorney General (prosecutor) on the task force.
Wayne County Prosecutor: Prosecution of cases in Wayne County: Two prosecutors, one crime victim advocate, one paralegal/statistician, one clerical assistant and one investigator on the task force.
Michigan State Police: Analytics and data reports on sexual assault kits as they are tested, investigated and prosecuted, and assistance on investigations: Two Criminal Intelligence Analysts, one in Detroit and one in Lansing.
Detroit Police: Six investigators, currently housed in the Wayne county Prosecutor's Office at no cost to the task force. The Detroit Police Department will investigate sexual assaults in the city of Detroit and cross-jurisdictional matters involving the city of Detroit.
A majority of the rape kits have been tested and the remainder should be completed by this fall.
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