Class Action Says Houston’s Rape Kit Backlog Lets Serial Rapists Roam Free

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Houston’s failure to address a backlog of thousands of untested rape kits has allowed serial rapists to remain free to sexually assault new victims, a woman alleges in a class action lawsuit filed Sunday in Texas federal court.

Plaintiff DeJenay Beckwith claims the “persistent and intentional failure” to test more than 6,600 Sexual Assault Evidence Kits has resulted in the “failure to prevent the sexual assault of hundreds of women and juveniles, by identifiable assailants, including serial rapists.”

According to the Houston rape kit class action lawsuit, Beckwith was raped in 2011 by a man who claimed to be a mechanic. Immediately after escaping the scene, Beckwith called the Houston Police Department to report the rape. She was transported to the hospital to have the Sexual Assault Evidence Kit done.

HPD transported the rape kit back to the police department, but the rape kit was not submitted for testing for more than five years, according to the Houston rape kit class action lawsuit.

Rape kits are typically used by forensic experts to collect samples from the victim’s body. These kits contain items that can be used to store, preserve or analyze samples of semen, hairs, body fluids, and any other forensic biological evidence that may have been left by the perpetrator.

“The forensic samples collected, meaning the semen, saliva, skin or other biological material, are provided to a laboratory, which can then administer a full DNA analysis, but only if the defendants send it to the lab,” Beckwith says in the Houston rape kit class action lawsuit.

“In sexual assault cases in which the perpetrator is a stranger, rape kits may be instrumental in identifying the assailant through the DNA profiling, which research suggests may help lead to an arrest,” according to the rape kit class action lawsuit.

In 2016, Beckwith was informed by HPD that they had a suspect named David Lee Cooper. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office contacted her later in 2016 because her rape kit had finally been tested and the DNA it contained matched that of Cooper.

According to the Houston rape kit class action lawsuit, Cooper had a long history of assaulting women. His DNA had reportedly been included in the Combined DNA Index System since 1991.

On Dec. 14, 2016, Cooper pleaded guilty to a 2002 sexual assault of a child, a 2009 sexual assault and the 2011 sexual assault of Beckwith.

Beckwith asserts that, if Houston had entered any of the genetic evidence provided by Coopers’ earlier victims, Cooper would have been stopped before he had the chance to sexually assault Beckwith.

According to the Houston rape kit class action lawsuit, Texas had a backlog of 20,000 untested rape kits in 2011. In 2013, legislators earmarked funds to process the rape kits. Last week, the Texas Tribune reported that the rape kit backlog has been reduced to approximately 3,000.

Beckwith filed the Houston rape kit backlog class action lawsuit on behalf of herself and a proposed Class of female and juvenile individuals who reported sexual assaults to HPD and who were directed by HPD to have bodily fluid samples placed in rape kits.

The rape kit class action lawsuit asserts claims for violations of due process, violations of the 4th Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure, violations of the 5th and 14th Amendments, and negligence.

Beckwith is represented by Randall L. Kallinen of Kallinen Law PLLC, Roy J. Rodney Jr. of Rodney & Etter LLC, and Charles H. Peckham and Mary A. Martin of Peckham Martin PLLC.

The Houston Rape Kit Class Action Lawsuit is DeJenay Beckwith v. City of Houston, Texas, et al., Case No. 4:17-cv-02859, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division.