Ohio Supreme Court is examining the issue of DNA testing delay, as it can affect the justice seeks by the rape victims. Prosecutors and advocates for rape victims urge the court to reinstate charges against a Cleveland man accused of attacking a woman in 1993.
Lower court's ruling on dismissing the charges against rape suspects can jeopardize thousands of unsolved rapes due to DNA testing delay. In a report by ABC News, prosecutors and advocates condemned the appeals court's decision to dismiss the case should not be in the grounds of rape kit testing.
At issue is the indictment of Demetrius Jones in 2013 for a rape case took place in 1993. Jones was accused of rape based on the evidence when an old rape kit tested.
A day before the deadline for prosecuting an old case, Jone's attorneys successfully upheld the 8th District Court of Appeals' decision to dismiss the case because the state took long. His attorney said that Jones' mother, the only witness of the crime and died in 2011, was unable to testify "solely due to the State's sloth in prosecuting this case."
But the prosecutors and rape advocates disagree to the lower court's ruling on the case. In a report by AP: The Big Story, the delay in DNA testing should not affect the charges. The groups asked Ohio Supreme Court to reject the finding.
The SFGate's report supports the fact that DNA is a vital tool in solving rape cases. But for years, however, thousands of cases DNA evidence is left untested. Thus, justice delayed is justice denied for victims of rape.
The site also enumerates the three reasons why the evidence left sitting on the storage for years. First, there are insufficient resources for law enforcement to test the backlogged kits and prosecute the suspects based on the evidences found in DNA testing. Second, rape kits are not tracked. There are estimated at more than 6, 100 statewide and tens of thousands nationwide of unprocessed backlog. And lastly, the testing kits are wasted if the victims decide not to proceed with the case. This also brought by disdain that the rape victims feel when they are interrogated by law enforcers.
Critics of lower court decision said that the ruling only puts the Ohio efforts to prosecute more unresolved cases in jeopardy. Meanwhile, Ohio Supreme Court scheduled arguments from both sides Wednesday.
