When someone has been accused of rape, one of the strongest indicators of guilt can be forensic evidence. But while most people are aware that DNA can be recovered after a rape, they aren’t aware of how physical evidence used in a rape case is collected and that it often doesn’t automatically prove guilt. Here’s what you should know about rape and forensic evidence.
Collecting Evidence Used in A Rape Case
When police are investigating rape charges, they may collect some pieces of physical evidence, such as footprints or fingerprints at the scene. But the majority of forensic evidence is collected through rape kits. A rape kit consists of bags and envelopes of evidence collected directly from the victim’s clothes and body after a sexual assault.
These intense exams are completely voluntary for victims and are incredibly invasive, often traumatic, which is why many victims choose not together or wait until days after the rape occurred to get tested. Similarly, because the process of going to police is so difficult for victims, many people who go through this process choose not to file a police report and the rape kit is not tested but held until the victim decides to do so. Because there is no longer a statue of limitations on rape in the state of California, a victim could wait 20 years or longer before deciding to press charges against someone if she chooses to.
Before evidence used in a rape case is collected, the rape kit process begins with the victim answering a lot of questions about what specifically happened, including the time and place of the specific assault. Sometimes this process takes hours. After this is over, the victim will usually be asked to undress over a drop cloth so anything that falls off of their body (such as a hair from the suspect) can be collected. The clothes are also often collected.
Nurses may go over their skin with a UV lamp to look for bodily fluids and with a comb on any hair-covered areas to collect hairs or other samples from the suspect. Photographs will be taken and a full internal and external exam given to document any injuries. The area under the nails will be scrapped and anything that comes loose will be kept. The nurse will also take blood and urine samples. Many rape kits are not completed fully because the victim can refuse to undergo any of the procedures that they may find upsetting, which frequently happens.
When the rape kit is sent to be processed for DNA testing in a crime lab, the samples must go through a specific legal chain of command to make sure they are not tampered with. When this chain of custody is broken, the law allows for the evidence to be challenged and often excluded in trials, even in sexual assault cases that rely solely on this form of evidence.
Forensic Evidence Doesn’t Always Indicate Guilt
As we mentioned in a previous article, one of the things that makes rape charges so difficult to prosecute is that simply because there is DNA evidence that proves someone had sexual intercourse doesn’t mean that a sexual assault occurred. In many cases, especially cases involving drugs or alcohol, the two parties agree that they had sex, but the only thing that they disagree with is whether or not the alleged victim provided consent. Even if there is evidence that violence occurred, if the two parties enjoy rough sexual activities, this could be innocent as well, particularly since there is no law against consensual violent sex.
Also, as stated above, many victims of sexual assaults don’t actually get rape kits until days or even weeks after the alleged rape occurred. Unfortunately, every time someone eats, drinks, showers, changes clothes or lays in a bed, physical evidence is lost and it is sometimes even replaced with DNA samples from other people such as roommates, family members, friends or romantic partners. If the victim was drugged, blindfolded or otherwise unable to identify their rapist, this could result in an innocent person facing rape charges simply because their DNA was uncovered in the rape kit.
Additionally, sometimes victims of sexual violence have voluntary intercourse with someone before or after they were raped and if the victim did not see the perpetrator and the only forensic evidence indicates the person they consensually had intercourse with, that person may wrongly face rape charges. This can be a particular problem for those who recently had sex with someone who was raped and then murdered or left in a coma and therefore the victim cannot inform law enforcement investigators that they had a consensual encounter. In fact, if you had consensual sexual relations with someone shortly before or after they were raped, you may want to contact a rape defense attorney before investigators talk to you in order to help protect your rights. Even the finding of DNA is not conclusive because in addition to consent, DNA found on clothes can occur through contamination of co-mingled clothes.
Call a Lawyer Immediately
If you are facing rape charges or believe you may be accused of the crime, it is best to hire an attorney as soon as possible. Because rape cases often come down to he said/she said arguments, it is critical you do not say anything that may hurt your defense later. For example, if you had consensual sex with someone who claims they were raped, your first instinct might be to deny having sex with them at all, but doing this can end up making you appear to be a liar if DNA evidence or witness testimony proves you weren’t telling the truth. This means that anything you say afterwards may considered dishonest in the mind of investigators.
Police have a lot of techniques they use to get suspects to confess -often falsely. That is why it is so important to work with a criminal attorney who can help protect your rights and reputation under the criminal justice system. If you are facing rape charges or believe you might be accused of any type of sexual assault crime, please call (760) 643-4050 to schedule a free initial consultation with Peter M. Liss.
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