Three newspaper articles have been selected for presentation here. The first deals with an issue introduced as a potential trend in the previous edition of The Evidence Log(c), the extension of the statute of limitations in rape cases where DNA evidence is available. The second is a Santa Fe, NM case regarding the forcing of a DNA sample in a homicide case, and the third deals with a method of dealing with a huge DNA evidence backlog.

Los Angeles Times, February 29, 2000
DNA Tests Fuel Drive for Longer Rape Case Statutes

New technology is identifying suspects in crimes older than the 6-year limitation
By Miguel Bustillo, Staff Writer

SACRAMENTO - In 1992, Jeri Elster of Los Angeles was bound and brutally raped for hours by a man who broke into her home as she slept. Seven years later, advances in DNA evidence identified the alleged rapist, a man already convicted of an unrelated crime and serving time in a California prison. But under California law, which places a 6-year statute of limitations on rapes, the man will never be tried for the crime because the statute expired before the DNA link was made. He is set to be released from prison in 2007. "I will never forget his face or his voice the memories continue to haunt me," Elster said. "Our laws need to catch up to our scientific abilities."

Hoping to persuade lawmakers with her personal tale of injustice, Elster, 47, will go public for the first time today, when an Assembly committee discusses legislation (AB 1742) to extend the statute for two years-and indefinitely in cases where DNA testing can point to a suspect. Like similar limits across the nation, California's rape statute is coming under increasing attack from victims rights groups, which say that it does not reflect advances in technology and is preventing prosecution of suspected rapists. "It does take time to solve these cases, and what a shame if these cases are solved but for some arbitrary limit," said Karen Pomer of the Rainbow Sisters Project, a Santa Monica-based advocacy group for victims of sexual assault. "What has happened to Jeri is going to happen more and more, because the testing is getting better and better. We're going to have known rapists walking the streets."

The bill by Assemblyman Lou Correa (D-Anaheim) would extend the statute by two years-and in a last-minute amendment drafted this week. would completely lift the statute if DNA testing can connect someone to the crime. The amendment, which attempts to forge a compromise between those who favor a limit and those who want no limit, would allow prosecutors to use DNA evidence dozens of years after the rape occurred. Charges, however, would have to be brought within one year of the DNA test. Public Safety Committee Chairman Carl Washington (D-Los Angeles) had a hand in the compromise and supports the bill, increasing the chances that it will get out of the committee intact, other lawmakers said. It is supported by law enforcement groups, including the California District Attorneys Assn. and the California State Sheriffs Assn., and has yet to register any opposition.

"To have such a heinous crime, a hate crime against women, go unpunished is more than we can accept," Correa said. "This [bill would] expand the ability of the district attorney to bring charges .... This will give the prosecutors the option to use it as long as they need." In statehouses across the country, pressure has been building to scrap statute-of-limitation laws in light of DNA testing that has pointed to suspects in cases where the limits on charges had long passed. Three states-Florida, Nevada and New Jersey-already have repealed their statutes, and others are considering doing so.

Meanwhile, some prosecutors are resorting to clever tactics to keep cases alive by listing the genetic makeup of a suspect in arrest warrants rather than the old "John Doe" warrants used on unnamed suspects. The first California example of that technique took place this month in Sacramento. In addition to locating suspects, DNA testing has led to high-profile cases in which jailed men were found to be innocent - including one in which a Los Angeles man, Herman Atkins, was freed from Ironwood state prison this month after 12 years behind bars. More than 60 people nationwide have been exonerated of criminal charges and freed from prison as a result of DNA testing. That has led to legislation in Washington by Sen. Patrick 1. Leahy (D-Vt.) and in California by state Senate President Pro Tern John Burton (D-San Francisco) that would make it easier for inmates to obtain DNA tests where there is biological evidence that they could be innocent.

For Elster, who recently overcame a bout with breast cancer, changing the law is more than an attempt at justice; it is an effort to find closure and healing. In a cruel twist, prosecutors initially told Elster the DNA testing in her case would be admissible, then acknowledged that they had made a mistake. "I was getting justice. I was going to see him in court. He was going to be off the streets. How beautiful can this be? I thought. Then they told me they were sorry, but there had been a mistake," Elster said, her voice halting, as she changed the topic to today's hearing. "I keep thinking to myself that all they see is statistics. Their cronies can talk their ears off. But until they see someone, a working woman who has been through this, they will not understand."

Albuquerque (NM) Journal, February 6, 2000
SF Police Get Break in 7-Year-Old Case of Woman's Death
By S.U. Mahesh, Journal Staff Writer

For seven years. a human leg bone. a rib and a couple of teeth sat in the evidence room at the Santa Fe Police Department. Detectives believe they may be the remains of Donna Walker Foote a Santa Fe woman who they believe was killed and dismembered in late 1975 or early 1976.

But for those seven years, Santa Fe police have been turned away at every attempt to gather DNA from her son, Roy Douglas Foote, her only living relative and the man detectives say is the prime suspect in the case. They need the DNA to be sure the remains are those of Donna Walker Foote who was in her 50's in 1975. "Every time we tried something, we get stonewalled," Detective Mark Clayton said. Clayton, the lead detective in the case, has postponed his retirement in putting the case to rest.

For years he has battled Oklahoma prosecutors, who he said have refused to force Roy Douglas Foote, now 50, to provide blood, saliva and hair samples. Foote, who now lives in Sapulpa, Okla. near Tulsa, has declined to provide them voluntarily, police say.

Inconsistencies
The remains that investigators believe are Donna Foote's were found beneath a rose bush in May 1993 at the home in the 1900 block of Fort Union Drive where she and her son lived in the mid-1970s. According to an affidavit filed in court: A landscaper found the bones and teeth, as well as a skull, clothing and some hair. By checking land and deed records, investigators were able to establish the whereabouts of every occupant of the home dead or alive except Donna Foote. A forensic pathologist then determined that the remains were at least consistent with the build, dental records and other physical characteristics of Foote. The remains bore markings that were consistent with those a saw might leave during dismemberment. And the skull, according to the affidavit, was fractured by what forensics experts said appeared to be a gunshot. Whomever it belonged to, they said, appeared to be the victim of a homicide.

Investigators acknowledge they have no physical evidence linking Donna Foote's death to her son. But they believe they have built a strong circumstantial case, Clayton said. Court records show that Foote inherited property, mineral rights and other assets from his mother worth more than $1 million. Donna Foote's signature on the deed to sell the home in 1976, according to a handwriting analysis cited in the records, bears similarities to the handwriting of Roy Foote, but not his mother. Clayton said he also uncovered other inconsistencies.

Samples taken
Despite what Clayton believes is evidence enough to force Roy Foote to submit to the warrant calling for the samples, Oklahoma prosecutors for almost seven years argued that he wasn't charged with any crime. Oklahoma law requires the charge before someone must submit to a warrant, Clayton acknowledges.

A letter to the state of Oklahoma requesting the Attorney General's office take over ultimately led to the court order on Jan. 25 of this year. That same day, Clayton said, blood, saliva and hair samples were taken from Roy Foote. Now Clayton only awaits a decision from a Creek County, OK Judge on whether the samples were taken illegally, as Foote's attorney has argued. No date has been set. "We think we're on firm footing," Clayton said.

Daily News - New York, NY, January 4, 2000
Reopening Rape Cases - Cops Looking At DNA
By Alice McQuillan, Staff Writer.

Police are taking a new look at 12,000 unsolved rape cases in hopes of generating DNA evidence to track down sexual predators. Collected evidence from those cases will undergo DNA testing at a private lab in a program expected to cost about $ 2 million, said the Police Commissioner. Once processed, these samples will be added to the state's expanding DNA database, possibly linking those cases to other active rape investigations. "1 think they are going to be a treasure trove of evidence," the Commissioner said. "We will get lots of crime scene matches and database matches by identifying the DNA in those kits."

Until 1998, police policy had barred investigators from DNA testing in cases where evidence was collected from victims but there were no known suspects. But that year, Safir ordered that every rape evidence kit collected from individual crimes be tested for DNA. Kits typically contain samples of semen, blood or other bodily fluids. Not every rape yields an evidence kit.

That meant that 12,000 cases from the five years before 1998 were now reopened. The city medical examiner's office, which had been conducting DNA tests on the evidence kits since the policy change, couldn't handle the sudden backlog. The Police Department has advertised for a private testing firm. Safir said he expects the city to choose a company from among the bidders in the next few months.

Last year, medical examiner's technicians processed 1,900 rape evidence kits for DNA, said the office spokeswoman. Usually, each kit takes about 90 days. Determined to cut the time to 30 days, the office is doubling its staff of 31 analysts, she said.