XPost: talk.politics.guns, memphis.general, talk.politics.misc   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics   
   From: kamala.harris.encourages@black.crime   
      
   MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Problems with rape kit evidence testing keep haunting   
   Memphis.   
      
   A city long plagued by a heavy backlog of untested sexual assault kits was   
   shaken by Cleotha Henderson’s arrest in the killing of Eliza Fletcher after   
   she was abducted during a morning jog last month.   
      
   So when authorities said his DNA was linked to a rape that occurred nearly a   
   year earlier — charging him separately days after he was arrested in   
   Fletcher’s killing — an outraged city turned to the obvious question: Why   
   was he still on the streets?   
      
   The case of Henderson, who already has served 20 years in prison for a   
   kidnapping he committed at 16, has reignited criticism of Tennessee’s sexual   
   assault testing process. That has included calls for shorter delays from the   
   testing agency, the    
   Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and questions about why Memphis didn’t   
   seek to fast-track a kit that could have been tested in days.   
      
   Instead, it took nearly a year, unearthing key evidence too late to charge   
   Henderson before Fletcher’s killing.   
      
   The tragic outcome brings back memories from the early 2010s, when Memphis   
   revealed a backlog of about 12,000 untested rape kits that took years to   
   whittle down and led to a lawsuit that’s still ongoing. The new rape charges   
   have spurred another    
   lawsuit accusing the Memphis Police Department of negligence for the delay.   
      
   The scenario also has raised broader concerns about Tennessee’s struggles   
   with a problem that has been in the national spotlight for decades and that   
   some states have addressed.   
      
   In response, GOP Gov. Bill Lee and Republican legislative leaders have   
   fast-tracked money for 25 additional TBI lab positions, including six in DNA   
   processing. The agency had requested 50 more this year, but Lee funded only 25   
   in his proposed budget and    
   lawmakers approved that amount.   
      
   Meghan Ybos, a rape victim involved in the backlog lawsuit, blames the city   
   for not curbing a problem known for years despite receiving more than $20   
   million in grants to address the backlog.   
      
   “I don’t think the shortcomings of Memphis law enforcement are limited to   
   the handling of rape kits,” Ybos said, “but I think the public should be   
   outraged at the lack of transparency about what Memphis has done with tens of   
   millions of grant    
   money that the city and county have received to test rape kits, train police,   
   hire victim advocates, prosecute cold rape cases and more.”   
      
   As of August, Tennessee’s three state labs averaged from 28 to 49 weeks to   
   process rape kits under circumstances that don’t include an order to rush   
   the test. More than 950 rape kits sat untested in labs.   
      
   TBI attributed the delays to staffing woes and low pay that complicates   
   recruiting and keeping scientists.   
      
   TBI Director David Rausch laid out further moves in hopes of processing all   
   evidence in eight to 12 weeks within the next year: Overtime, weekend hours,   
   more outsourcing to private labs and using retired TBI workers for new worker   
   training to free up    
   current employees.   
      
   Tennessee doesn’t require specific turnaround times for newly collected rape   
   kits, though 19 other states do, according to the Joyful Heart Foundation,   
   which is pushing Tennessee to follow suit. Massachusetts requires processing   
   kits within 30 days,    
   but most of the states require testing within 60, 90 or 120 days.   
      
   Tennessee’s House and Senate speakers haven’t flagged turnaround mandates   
   as a priority. TBI, meanwhile, said any turnaround requirement would need   
   proper funding.   
      
   Ilse Knecht, policy and advocacy director for the Joyful Heart Foundation,   
   said Tennessee’s problems aren’t unique. Without an official U.S. count of   
   rape kits awaiting analysis, Knecht estimated there are likely more than   
   200,000 untested kits in    
   law enforcement or hospital storage nationally.   
      
      
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