DNA tests outsourced to speed up rape cases

SEATTLE – The state now has a way to get faster results on the DNA tests that are central to evidence gathering in cases of rape by strangers – sending the samples to a private lab in Dallas as part of a new federally funded program.

DNA evidence that previously took more than a year to be tested by the Washington State Patrol crime lab is now coming back in about a month, thanks to the new Stranger Rape DNA Project.

The state crime lab has a backlog of evidence from rapes, homicides and assaults that dates back years, said Lynn McIntyre, standards and accountability manager for the patrol’s crime lab division.

“Generally speaking, we have more work than we can take right now,” McIntyre said. “We would love to give more prompt service, but we don’t have the personnel at the time to do that.”

She said the crime lab has to prioritize its backlog, by first working on the cases in which there’s a definite suspect or court activity is pending. Cases in which there’s no known subject – such as rapes involving attack by a stranger – are a low priority.

There are about 200 stranger rapes each year in Washington state, according to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.

The State Patrol will compare the speedier DNA findings with state and national DNA databases, according to the association, which is overseeing the project.

The federal government has supplied $750,000 for the Stranger Rape DNA Project, and lawmakers are hoping to find another $1.5 million to keep the program running for at least three years, the association said.

Thanks to the new program, fast turnaround on testing of DNA from a child rape case in Olympia cleared one man of charges and led to the arrest and charging of another.

Jon Tunheim, Thurston County chief deputy prosecutor, said that without the fast turnaround on the DNA evidence in that case it was likely the first man would still be charged while the DNA sat waiting for analysis.

“All the other kinds of evidence pointed pretty strongly at him,” Tunheim said. “The DNA was clearly not his.

“We knew at that point it was time to refocus the investigation.”