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Return to Calendar    
   
Title: DNA AWARENESS MARCH & RALLY FOR PUBLIC SAFETY
START DATE: 8/27/2002
START TIME: 10:00 AM
Duration: 3 Hours
Location:
Location Details:
10 AM- Rally Outside LAPD Parker Center (Los Angeles St. & 1st)
March to the Downtown Federal Building 300 Los Angeles St. and join meeting of the LA County Board of Supervisors (Temple & Grand) at NOON.
Event Topic: DNA AWARENESS
Event Type: demonstration
Contact Name: Rainbow Sisters Project
Contact Email: RBSistersProject@aol.com
Contact Phone: (310) 645-9249
DESCRIPTION:
DNA AWARENESS MARCH & RALLY FOR PUBLIC SAFETY

Join Rape Survivors, the Wrongly Convicted & Supporters Calling to Enforce the

Moratorium on DNA Evidence Destruction and Fully Fund DNA Testing

Tuesday August 27th, 10 AM-1 PM Downtown L A

LAPD officials acknowledged that they "accidentally destroyed biological evidence in at least 1100 sexual assault cases since 1995." Join rape survivors and the wrongly convicted at a rally outside LAPD’s Parker Center Headquarters in and call for change in DNA preservation and testing

Support increased funding, sufficient space and adequate staff for DNA testing in the new million dollar LA County Regional Crime Lab. Plans recently approved over public criticism that the lab would be "inadequate and obsolete before they opened it’s doors." Backlogged rape kits number in the thousands in LA, nationwide in the hundreds of thousands.

WHEN: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 from 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM

WHERE: 10 AM- Rally Outside LAPD Parker Center (Los Angeles St. & 1st)

March to the Downtown Federal Building 300 Los Angeles St. and join Meeting of the LA County Board of Supervisors (Temple & Grand) at NOON.

INVITED SPEAKERS INCLUDE: Jeri Elster and Herman Atkins, (see other side)

*Barry Scheck, DNA expert, attorney and founder of the Innocence Project

*Debbie Smith rape survivor who waited 6 years before DNA was tested ID her rapist.

*Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton- Jennifer Thompson mistakenly

identified Ronald Cotton as her rapist. Cotton spent 11 years in prison before he was exonerated by DNA testing.

*Kellie Greene (FL) is the founder of SOAR- Speaking Out About Rape, DNA

evidence from her rape sat on a shelf for three years before it was tested,

once the evidence was entered into a data-base a hit was made.

PARKING: .00 All-Day Parking Lot on 2nd and Los Angeles St.

ENDORSERS: Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN); the Innocence Project; Rosa Parks Sexual Assault Crisis Center; Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation (MVFR); the Purple Berets- Women Defending Women; The Post -Conviction Assistance Center; Campaign for Criminal Justice Reform; Equal Justice USA/Quixote Center; Musicians and Artists Against Rape; SOAR - Speaking Out About Rape.

The Rainbow Sisters Project is a Los Angeles-based national group of rape

survivor/activists who are dedicated to direct action, public education and

legislative lobbying to improve the lives of rape survivors and our communities.

JERI ELSTER AND HERMAN ATKINS

In a unusual pairing, two local residents -- a rape survivor and a man wrongly convicted of another rape – will address the DNA Awareness Rally for Public Safety, protesting the destruction of DNA evidence by law enforcement and to fully fund DNA testing.

Jeri Elster and Herman Atkins’ stories painfully illustrate the human cost from both sides of the criminal justice system, when it fails to give the most effective crime prevention and crime-solving tool —DNA testing— the priority and resources necessary to ensure public safety..

Elster’s worst nightmare materialized on August 27, 1991, when she awoke in the middle of the night to a stranger raping her at knifepoint. The rapist was eventually identified through DNA evidence testing, but will never be prosecuted for her rape because both the LAPD and DA failed to order the testing prior to the then 6-year statute of limitations.

Elster’s story helped change California law. As of January 1, 2001 the statute of limitations on rape is effectively eliminated when DNA evidence identifies the rapist.

Herman Atkins, an innocent man, spent 12 years in a California prison for rape before a DNA test provided the proof of his innocence. It took 3 years to get a judge's permission to utilize testing of the biological evidence. While Atkins was in prison, the real perpetrator remained free from prosecution. Atkins also helped change California laws - those incarcerated now have greater access to post-conviction DNA testing.

The DNA Awareness Rally is being held on the 10th Anniversary of Jeri Elster’s assault.

Speakers will support the two DNA-related bills in Congress -- the Debbie Smith Act and the Innocence Protection Act. The Debbie Smith Act authorizes funding for testing of 180,000 - 500,000 backlogged DNA rape evidence kits, and funding of new DNA evidence testing if performed within 10 days of the crime. The Innocence Protection Act provides increased access to DNA testing in all cases where it could prove innocence. Post-conviction DNA testing has exonerated 109 Americans to date, including 12 from death row.

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