(COLUMBUS, Ohio) -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today released a status update on the progress of DNA testing being conducted as part of the Ohio Attorney General's Sexual Assault Kit Testing Initiative.
<>As of July 1, 2015, 186 law enforcement agencies have submitted 10,134 kits to be tested as part of the initiative. Of those, 800 kits were submitted after Senate Bill 316 took effect.
Forensic scientists with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) have completed testing on a total of 7,814 of those kits, resulting in 2,887 hits in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
In Cuyahoga County alone, more than 330 defendants have been indicted following DNA testing conducted as part of the effort, including Moses Clark, 65, who was sentenced this week to life in prison after being found guilty of raping three women in 2006.
Attorney General DeWine today also praised the work of the Ohio legislature to extend the statute of limitations for rape cases from 20 to 25 years. This week, House Bill 6 was passed by the General Assembly to extend the current statute of limitations by five years. If DNA evidence links a suspect to an attack after 25 years have passed, the bill also adds another five years for possible prosecution after the DNA match is made. The bill, which was sponsored by representatives Stephanie Kunze (R-Hilliard) and Sarah LaTourette (R-Bainbridge Township), will next go to Ohio Governor John Kasich to be signed into law.
"My office's Sexual Assault Kit Testing Initiative has proven that modern DNA technology has changed the way we should look at prosecuting rape cases," said Attorney General DeWine. "I applaud the work of the legislature to give sexual assault survivors and law enforcement more opportunities to pursue justice."
Background on Attorney General DeWine's Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) Testing Initiative:
Attorney General DeWine launched the initiative in 2011 after learning that dozens of law enforcement agencies across the state were in possession of rape kits, some of which were decades old, that had never been sent to a DNA lab for testing. Attorney General DeWine then made an open call to law enforcement to send their kits to BCI for DNA testing at no cost to them.
To ensure the timely analysis of the thousands of kits submitted as part of the SAK Testing Initiative, Attorney General DeWine hired 10 additional forensic scientists. By hiring this additional staff, the older kits are tested as quickly as possible, without slowing down the testing of the more than 7,700 rape kits associated with recent crimes tested by BCI as part of their regular casework since 2011.
Senate Bill 316, which went into effect on March 23, 2015, now requires Ohio law enforcement agencies to submit any remaining previously untested sexual assault kits associated with a past crime to a crime laboratory within one year. The law also requires that all newly collected rape kits be submitted to a crime lab within 30 days after law enforcement determines a crime has been committed.
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Media Contacts:
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