Use of rape-kit DNA to probe other crimes shocks prosecutors

Source: Associated Press

Use of rape-kit DNA to probe other crimes shocks prosecutors

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ and STEFANIE DAZIO
February 16, 2022

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The San Francisco district attorney’s stunning claim that California crime labs are using DNA from sexual assault survivors to investigate unrelated crimes shocked prosecutors nationwide, and advocates said the practice could affect victims’ willingness to come forward.

District Attorney Chesa Boudin said he became aware of the “opaque practice” last week after prosecutors found a report among hundreds of pages of evidence in the case against a woman recently charged with a felony property crime. The papers referred to a DNA sample collected from the woman during a 2016 rape investigation.

Boudin read from the report Tuesday at a news conference and said he could not share it because of privacy concerns, but his office allowed the San Francisco Chronicle to review the documents. The newspaper said the woman was tied to a burglary in late 2021 during “a routine search” of a San Francisco Police Department crime lab database. The match came from DNA gathered from the same laboratory listed in a report on the sexual assault, The Chronicle reported.

Boudin said someone at the crime lab told him the practice was a standard procedure, according to Rachel Marshall, Boudin’s spokeswoman. Crime lab Director Mark Powell did not immediately respond Wednesday to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/crime-california-san-francisco-sexual-assault-3dcd00bf0522ce7c39bb2a7ec53cf7d3