{"article":{"id":18315,"heading":"DNA Awareness March and Rally Tuesday August 27","author":"The Rainbow Sisters Project","created":"2002-08-13 20:55:05","modified":"2013-11-10 23:45:29","last_modified":"Mon, 11 Nov 2013 06:45:29","article":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><p>THE RAINBOW SISTERS PROJECT <br>  <br> INVITES YOU TO JOIN  <br>  <br>      <br>  <br> THE FIRST EVER DNA AWARENESS MARCH  <br>  <br> AND RALLY FOR PUBLIC SAFETY <br>  <br> To Honor Victims of Violent Crimes and <br>  <br> the Wrongly Convicted <br><br> Tuesday, August 27th 10 AM-1 PM in Downtown LA <br>  <br> DNA Helps Convict the Guilty and Free the Innocent <br><br> Let Law Enforcement Officials and  <br>  <br> Elected Officials Know You Support: <br><br> * A Halt to the Destruction of DNA Evidence by the LAPD and LA County Sheriffs <br>  <br> * Adequate DNA Testing Space and Staff for the NEW LA County Regional Crime Lab <br>  <br> * Two DNA-Related Bills currently before the U.S. Congress: <br>  <br> The Debbie Smith Act: authorizes funding testing for backlogged DNA evidence  <br>  <br> and testing of new DNA evidence within 10 days of the crime.  <br>  <br> The Innocence Protection Act: would increase access to DNA testing for  <br>  <br> capital cases. <br><br> WHY: TAKE A STAND and let elected officials and law enforcement officials  <br>  <br> know, citizens and taxpayers care about the safety of our streets and about  <br>  <br> how our money is spent. When there is failure to collect, preserve or  <br>  <br> promptly test DNA evidence: crime victims and their families, the wrongly  <br>  <br> convicted and our communities suffer. <br><br> 180,000 - 500,000 rape evidence kits are sitting backlogged, awaiting DNA lab  <br>  <br> analysis nationwide. No one knows for certain how many thousands of those  <br>  <br> kits remain on California's shelves untested. <br><br> LAPD officials acknowledged that they, \"accidentally destroyed biological  <br>  <br> evidence in at least 1,100 sexual assault cases since 1995,\" the LA Times  <br>  <br> reported (July 30, 2002).  Each one of those evidence kits destroyed may have  <br>  <br> taken a rapist off the street or freed an innocent man.  <br><br> Plans for a new $96 -million LA County Regional Crime Lab were recently  <br>  <br> approved over criticism that the lab would be \"inadequate and obsolete before  <br>  <br> they opened its doors.\" District Attorney Cooley, joined by rape survivors  <br>  <br> and advocates, fault the planners for not setting aside sufficient space and  <br>  <br> staff for DNA testing and the lab's DNA section will need to hire more  <br>  <br> scientists to accommodate requests for testing and to make a dent in the  <br>  <br> backlog. The LA Times (June 28, 2002) <br><br> Cooley is quoted in the LA Times (May 22, 2002) as saying: \"If we're standing  <br>  <br> in court, with the whole world knowing about DNA technology, and some agency  <br>  <br> hasn't gathered the forensics evidence and had it tested in a timely manner,  <br>  <br> then the case will probably fail. DNA technology is the ultimate in crime  <br>  <br> prevention, and if anyone doesn't appreciate that ... they are not doing  <br>  <br> their job.\"  <br><br> \"Each one of these stalled (backlogged) cases represents women's lives,\" says  <br>  <br> Debbie Smith, a rape survivor, who has bill named in her honor before US  <br>  <br> Congress. \"Many women are paralyzed after an attack because their rapist is  <br>  <br> still out there, and you never know if he's going to come back.\" Smith's  <br>  <br> emotional testimony moved many Washington lawmakers to tears &mdash; and action. <br><br> \"There are now 109 Americans who have been exonerated by post-conviction DNA  <br>  <br> testing,\" said DNA expert and attorney Barry Scheck of the Innocence Project  <br>  <br> testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. \"There can be no  <br>  <br> doubt the number of wrongly convicted freed by DNA testing would dramatically  <br>  <br> increase if the post-conviction DNA legislation were passed by Congress &ndash;&ndash;  <br>  <br> just as apprehension of the real perpetrators of these crimes through DNA  <br>  <br> databank \"hits\" would impressively proliferate. This is a \"win-win\"  <br>  <br> proposition for law enforcement, innocents who rot in America's prisons and  <br>  <br> death rows, crime victims, families of all involved, and anyone who loves justice. \" <br><br> WHEN: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 &ndash; 10 AM-1 PM <br><br> WHERE: Gather at LAPD Parker Center, Los Angeles St. and First St. for and  <br>  <br> rally and picket. We will then cross the street to the Downtown Federal  <br>  <br> Building to rally in support two bills before US Congress: the Debbie Smith  <br>  <br> Act and the Innocence Protection Act. The next stop will be the LA County  <br>  <br> Board of Supervisors Meeting at Temple St. and Grand Ave. Downtown LA. <br><br> PARKING: $4.00 All-Day Parking Lot on 2nd and Los Angeles St. <br><br> DID YOU KNOW?.... <br><br> That Jeri Elster, was raped on August 27, 1992, in Los Angeles and will never  <br>  <br> see her rapist prosecuted even though he was identified through a \"cold hit\"  <br>  <br> DNA match. The police and DA failed to test the DNA evidence before the old  <br>  <br> six-year statute of limitations had lapsed.  <br><br> Jeri's testimony and lobbying help change California laws. The new law  <br>  <br> enacted on January 1, 2001, effectively eliminate the statute of limitations  <br>  <br> on rape when DNA can identify the rapist. This first ever DNA Awareness March  <br>  <br> and Rally is being held on the 10th Anniversary of Jeri's assault to honor  <br>  <br> her and all rape survivors. <br><br> DID YOU KNOW?... <br><br> That Herman Atkins, an innocent man spent 12 years of his 45-year sentence  <br>  <br> for rape &ndash; before he was set free from a California prison. His release came  <br>  <br> after a DNA test provided the proof. It took three years to get a judge to  <br>  <br> agree to DNA testing of the biological evidence. But when the FBI confirmed  <br>  <br> the results, prosecutors released him.  <br><br> While Herman was in prison the real perpetrator remained free from  <br>  <br> prosecution. Herman&rsquo;s story has helped change California laws, those  <br>  <br> incarcerated now have greater access to DNA evidence testing post-conviction.  <br>  <br> But, had the crime that Herman was convicted of occurred in the City of LA  <br>  <br> instead of Riverside County he might still be behind bars. The current LAPD  <br>  <br> system allows evidence in rape cases to be destroyed after four years.  <br><br> ENDORSED BY: Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN); Murder Victims  <br>  <br> Families for Reconciliation (MVFR); The Post Conviction Assistance Center;  <br>  <br> Campaign for Criminal Justice Reform; the Innocence Project; Equal Justice USA\/Quixote Center and more endorsers TBA. <br><br> The Rainbow Sisters Project (<a href=\"mailto:rbsistersproject@aol.com\">rbsistersproject@aol.com<\/a>), is an LA-based  <br>  <br> national group of rape survivor\/activists who are dedicated to direct action,  <br>  <br> public education, and legislative lobbying to improve the lives of rape  <br>  <br> survivors and society as a whole. <br><br> For more information: or E-mail <a href=\"mailto:rbsistersproject@aol.com\">rbsistersproject@aol.com<\/a> or call (310 )458-6368  <br>  <br> ###<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","contact":"rbsistersproject@aol.com","link":"","address":"","phone":"(310 )458-6368","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Honor Victims of Violent Crimes and the Wrongly Convicted\r\nTHE FIRST EVER DNA AWARENESS MARCH \r\nAND RALLY FOR PUBLIC SAFETY\r\nTuesday, August 27th 10 AM-1 PM in Downtown LA\r\nDNA Helps Convict the Guilty and Free the Innocent\r\n","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2002\/08\/18315.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}