Federal officials who allocated significant funds for testing backlogged rape kits vowed that sexual offenders would be prosecuted and wrongfully imprisoned individuals would be cleared of charges.

However, after nearly a decade, with the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative distributing close to $350 million to 90 different state and local organizations, YSL News has verified only one case of exoneration linked to the grants. Additionally, countless kits remain untested, leaving many innocent individuals unjustly imprisoned.

The National Institute of Justice suggests that all untested kits from reported sexual assaults, including those in closed cases, should be examined. Adding DNA profiles from these kits into a national database could assist in exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals and apprehending offenders who remain at large. However, grant recipients from at least ten states have not adhered to these guidelines, as uncovered by a YSL News investigation.

Many agencies opted not to test backlogged kits linked to cases with prior confessions, guilty pleas, or established convictions, or when the suspect’s DNA information was already present in the national database. Consequently, imprisoned individuals whose cases involve unexamined kits must navigate complex legal processes before any DNA testing occurs. This procedure often spans years, if it occurs at all. Meanwhile, genuine offenders may remain free to commit further crimes.

Requests for a list of exonerated cases linked to the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative to officials at the U.S. Department of Justice went unanswered. Furthermore, the program’s website lacks information about the number of exonerations among its performance metrics.

Information obtained through a public records request revealed numerous inaccuracies in federal data. While Cleveland reported 23 exonerations and Connecticut’s Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection indicated two, officials confirmed these figures were errors, stating they should actually be zero. No other grant recipients reported any exonerations.

Dyer endured 10 years of imprisonment—two of which were due to a violation for not registering as a sex offender—after accepting a plea deal for a 1991 rape he did not commit.

In a Detroit police warehouse, a DNA profile linked to an ongoing case was discovered among approximately 11,000 other samples. Testing revealed that the profile did not correspond to the suspect. It was registered in the national DNA database and matched a different individual, Shon Luther Matthews. In 2016, a quarter-century after the crime occurred, Matthews confessed to the sexual assault.

Throughout this ordeal, Dyer endured the consequences of being labelled a sex offender, creating significant challenges in securing housing and employment.

“That label hinders many opportunities in your life,” he shared with YSL News.

Dyer was finally cleared from the sex offender registry in 2017. Had Wayne County not pursued the testing of kits from closed cases, he would likely still be wrongfully accused—and Matthews might have remained unpunished.

It is challenging to ascertain how many individuals like Dyer exist, as the federal government does not keep count of rape kits that remain untested in closed cases. YSL News managed to obtain reliable statistics from only seven state and local agencies that benefited from grants provided by the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, revealing over 2,000 such kits at those locations.

The estimated number of wrongful convictions in the U.S. varies significantly. A 2021 analysis in the New Criminal Law Review evaluated multiple studies and concluded that the actual rate likely falls between 3% and 6%.

This indicates that testing the kits highlighted by the newspaper could potentially identify many individuals wrongfully convicted.

For instance, Hawaii had at least 272 kits that went untested because the DNA profiles of suspects were already in the national database.

In Wisconsin, 710 kits were excluded from testing due to prior convictions.

Similarly, North Carolina had 832 kits—about 5% of its total backlog—sitting untouched as a result of plea deals or guilty verdicts.

Officials from the Justice Department stated that testing all kits isn’t mandated since the reasons behind backlogs differ among jurisdictions. Grant administrators alongside a nonprofit contractor assist agencies in “developing approaches that best serve their communities, tackle the root causes of untested kits, and promote best practices going forward,” according to the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s statement.

However, the advantages of testing each kit are universal, argued attorney Christine Mumma, the executive director of the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence.

“This mission seeks the truth,” she explained. “It’s about identifying the true offender just as much as it is about exonerating the innocent. It aims to ensure that victims receive justice and the right individuals are incarcerated.”

Why is it essential to test all rape kits?

Every wrongful conviction allows the actual perpetrator to evade justice.

This lesson was learned by New York officials many years ago.

In 1991, a 17-year-old identified a man named Michael Mercer as her assailant. Mercer’s first trial resulted in a hung jury, but he was retried, found guilty, and sentenced to serve between 20½ and 41 years in prison, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. A judge declined his plea to have the rape kit evidence retested using newer technology in 1996.

In 2000, New York City began to retest old rape kits utilizing advanced methods and cross-matching results with profiles in the state DNA database. By 2003, the evidence from Mercer’s case matched that of Arthur Brown, who was already serving two life sentences for five other rapes.

The prosecutor at the time, Robert Morgenthau, moved to vacate Mercer’s conviction, leading to Mercer’s release after spending 12 years behind bars. Unfortunately, Brown couldn’t be prosecuted for the 17-year-old’s assault because the statute of limitations had lapsed.

In 2010, Cyrus Vance Jr. took over as Manhattan’s district attorney. He later leveraged asset-forfeiture funds to allocate $38 million in grants to 32 law enforcement agencies across 20 states, enabling them to address their rape kit backlogs. These grants mandated that recipients test all types of kits—except when it was evident that no crime occurred, or the victim chose not to file a report—similar to New York City’s approach.

Vance stated in a November interview that the requirement to test all kits was crucial to prevent the arbitrary decisions that initially led to the backlog.

“You simply test them, and if a result indicates action is needed, you proceed,” he explained. “However, choosing not to test backlogged kits that have already been adjudicated removes the chance to reevaluate them.”

Still, he admitted that without the mandate to test kits from closed cases, he might not pursue it if he believed the rest of the evidence was substantial.

The year Vance assumed office, a congressional subcommittee held a hearing titled “Rape kit backlogs: Failing the test of providing justice to sexual assault survivors.” Experts at the hearing could not determine how many untested kits had accumulated in evidence rooms, warehouses, and labs nationwide over several decades. Subsequently, one study estimated that the number lay between 300,000 and 400,000.

During the hearing, New York Congressman Jerrold Nadler emphasized the potential value of DNA testing.

“Such evidence significantly increases the likelihood of capturing and punishing these offenders,” he stated. “It also allows for the definitive exoneration of the often wrongly accused innocent.”

In 2015, then-Vice President Joe Biden reiterated this message during a news conference launching the federal Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, declaring: “DNA technology serves as the worst nightmare for the guilty and the best ally for the innocent.”

Grant recipients were not obligated to examine kits that could have liberated individuals like Mercer.

Plea bargains may result in wrongful convictions

Disregarding kits in instances with confessions or guilty pleas overlooks the reality that innocent individuals sometimes admit to crimes they didn’t commit or accept plea deals, argued Samuel Gross, co-founder of the National Registry of Exonerations.

In the United States, the majority of criminal cases conclude with plea agreements, and defense attorneys may encourage clients who assert their innocence to accept deals for lesser sentences, he explained.

“Their lawyers might suggest, ‘You’re a Black man accused of sexually assaulting a young white woman, so taking a plea might be wise,'” Gross remarked during an interview.

Both Dyer and Terance Calhoun, the sole individual whose exoneration was directly linked to the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, had previously accepted plea deals.

Calhoun agreed to a no contest plea for several felony charges related to the sexual assaults of two teenage girls after signing a false confession in 2006, as stated in his ongoing federal civil lawsuit against Detroit police.

In one incident, there was no rape kit available, yet the victim identified her assailant as having a puzzle piece tattoo on his arm. Calhoun, who was 19 and had cognitive disabilities, did not possess such a tattoo.

In another attack, a rape kit was tested roughly three months after Calhoun was given more than 30 years in prison. The analysis did not match him, yet neither Calhoun nor his attorney were privy to the report, which was lost in case files while he spent 15 years behind bars.

The report was discovered in 2019, as Wayne County—having received nearly $9.5 million in funding from the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative—worked to address its rape kit backlog. Further testing ultimately cleared Calhoun of involvement, but he wasn’t released until three years later when the DNA profile was uploaded into the federal database and identified a serial rapist: Lionel Wells.

While Calhoun was imprisoned, Wells assaulted at least four additional teenage girls.

A second serial rapist, Ralph Douglass Tucker, was later connected to the other rape for which Calhoun was wrongly convicted due to his tattoo of a puzzle piece. Tucker’s DNA matched evidence collected from five separate rapes.

Worthy, the Wayne County prosecutor, stated that it’s vital for attorneys in her role to pursue justice for victims of sexual assault while also safeguarding the rights of the accused.

“If an opportunity arises to exonerate someone and you come across evidence that allows you to do that, even if it requires searching for it, that’s our responsibility,” she asserted.

Summer Stephan, president of the National District Attorneys Association, emphasized that a law or firm policy mandating the analysis of all kits would help ensure that testing choices are not swayed by bias or incomplete data.

“Prosecutors are continuously seeking truth and justice,” remarked Stephan, who serves as the district attorney for San Diego. “And the power of DNA extends to its potential for exoneration.  It’s crucial to avoid any innocent person being convicted of a crime they did not commit.”

Rape kit testing provides freedom after 28 years

All 50 states have enacted laws regarding post-conviction DNA testing, though eligibility requirements are complex and differ significantly.

In states like California, Florida, and Montana, the law permits such testing only if the identification of the perpetrator is in question. When someone has confessed or entered a guilty plea, prosecutors often maintain it is not an issue, explained Michael Semanchik, executive director of The Innocence Center, a nonprofit law firm in California that focuses on exonerating the wrongfully convicted.

“There exists a legal perspective prioritizing finality over truth,” he noted. “Additionally, there’s an element of ego—the investigating police officer and the prosecuting attorney cannot possibly be at fault. … They start believing in an alternate reality with their own set of facts.”

As indicated by the Joyful Heart Foundation, a prominent advocacy group for rape kit reform, California has not mandated the analysis of previously untapped rape kits. By 2009, over 12,000 untested kits were identified in Los Angeles County, according to Human Rights Watch.

One of those untested kits was connected to the case against Gerardo Cabanillas, who was arrested simply for wearing red pants.

In January 1995, a woman recounted the details of a robbery and an attempted carjacking she reported to the police. Investigators believed that the same suspect was involved in another incident, which included a carjacking, robbery, and rape, that occurred days before.

At that time, Gerardo Cabanillas was just 18, recently married, and the father of an 8-month-old baby. He rarely went out but decided to have one last night with friends before joining the Army on the upcoming Monday.

“I remember distinctly when the officer remarked, ‘You shouldn’t have worn those pants today,’” Cabanillas shared with YSL News.

A rape kit was taken from one of the victims but, unfortunately, it was never examined for DNA evidence.

Born in Mexico, Cabanillas mentioned that police did not provide an interpreter, which was particularly challenging since he was not fluent in English and did not understand the term “carjack.”

Initially, he asserted his innocence with a promise to his daughter. However, after nine hours of interrogation, a detective told him that as a young individual with no criminal record, he could lessen his punishment to probation if he just admitted to the small crimes. Feeling scared and overwhelmed, Cabanillas confessed.

“At that moment, I thought that admitting it would help my situation, or that they would let me go,” Cabanillas reflected.

Upon realizing the accusations included a severe sexual assault, he attempted to retract his confession, but it was too late. Cabanillas declined a plea bargain, leading to his conviction on multiple serious charges such as carjacking, robbery, sexual assault, and kidnapping, resulting in a sentence exceeding 72 years.

In 2017, Cabanillas reached out to attorneys Semanchik and Alissa Bjerkhoel, who is now a judge, to take on his case.

In 2019, approval was granted for the testing of the rape kit, which revealed two male DNA profiles, neither matching Cabanillas. One DNA profile linked back to Juan Angulo, an earlier suspect convicted in 1996 for similar crimes, including murder, and currently serving a life sentence. The second DNA profile did not correspond to anyone in the national database.

Cabanillas’ conviction was overturned, and he was released in 2023—four years after DNA testing was approved and 28 years after his initial arrest. During his time in prison, Cabanillas lost his father and two brothers. He is now trying to reconnect with his older daughter, whom he had not seen since she was very young, and has also remarried, raising another daughter.

“I wonder every day: How different would my life be if this hadn’t happened?” he expressed. “It’s been difficult. I am in therapy, which is helping me a lot, but the changes are overwhelming.”

A report published in 2020 by the California attorney general highlighted approximately 800 untested rape kits still remaining in Los Angeles County and a staggering backlog of over 11,500 kits statewide. Although the county has received state funding to tackle this backlog, it hasn’t yet received a federal grant from the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative. Similarly, the city of South Gate, where Cabanillas was wrongfully convicted, has also not been granted federal funding under this program.

Semanchik advocates for fewer restrictions on post-conviction DNA testing, not just in California but nationwide.

“Just because someone confesses doesn’t automatically mean they are guilty,” he pointed out. “If there is a possibility for DNA testing with potentially significant results, it should be carried out.”