Ypsilanti Township attorney 'shocked to the core' by brutal 2009 rape, says state reform needed
The news of a brutal 2009 rape in Ypsilanti Township has a local official so incensed that he wants the township to "lead the cause" against the delay in rape kits and other evidence being processed in violent crimes.
Ypsilanti Township Attorney Doug Winters
File photo
Ypsilanti Township Attorney Doug Winters said he was astounded and stunned to read in a Tuesday AnnArbor.com story that it took more than three years after the assault and rape occurred for a suspect to brought forward.
In the report, a 43-year-old Ypsilanti Township woman told police a stranger armed with a handgun and a knife had assaulted and raped her on a mattress in the woods in the township.
Anthony Derrick Chandler, who is 40 years old, is accused in the violent attack, appeared in the Washtenaw Circuit Court on charges related to the crime for the first time Monday.
Winters attributes this delay to the fact that state budget cuts have been made to the Michigan State Police Crime Lab. Winters said he believes the lab has been "put on the back burner" by the Michigan Legislature and Governor Rick Snyder.
"(It) has shamefully resulted in criminal sexual predators being allowed to roam freely throughout this state — in some cases for years — while the state drags its feet in apprehending these predators when we have the technology at our fingertips to have these predators identified, arrested and prosecuted for their heinous crimes in a timely manner," Winters wrote in a letter to the Ypsilanti Township Board of Trustees.
- Read the entire letter here.
Township Supervisor Brenda Stumbo told AnnArbor.com she agrees 100 percent with Winter's letter. Stumbo said what happened was "horrible" and things must change.
"You have to put yourself in the victim's shoes," Stumbo said. "She has walked around for three years not knowing."
Stumbo said the township will discuss this at the board's Monday meeting.
After that, Stumbo said a resolution will be drafted at the next subsequent meeting. If approved, the township likely will send the resolution around to other neighboring cities for their consideration and then mail it off to elected officials.
"Public safety has to be a top priority and this is part of it," Stumbo said. "To have one crime lab for the whole state, it's unacceptable. Our goal is to try to push the issue. It’s kind of sad that there’s only one crime lab for the whole state."
Winters said he's seen it take up to a year for a rape kit and other evidence to be processed, which he says are crucial to any case.
"It's been a lot of cutbacks in staffing and funding levels. There's been a partial increase in the last year (in funding) but it's nowhere near adequate. I can't even find the words to express the outrage."
According to the Michigan State Police website, the most recent data shows the state's Forensic Science Division provided services in 2010 to more than 57,000 criminal offenses.
For these 57,000 offenses, 87,800 work requests involving over 97,500 evidence examinations were completed. These numbers include rape kits as well as other evidence.
Winters said while he's aware it does take time to process evidence, he believes more can and should be done.
"Men and women should be outraged to know they have rape kits lying on these shelves," he said. "It's not like a library book you take and put back down when you want. These are people's lives that have been impacted. When I read it, I was just extremely bothered by it to the point that something needs to be done."
Winters said the township board can serve as a linchpin that can start a broad based coalition involving other communities.
"This has touched a nerve. I'm making contact locally and in Lansing because we're not going to settle for this. I don't think anyone that lives in the community should settle for it. Sometimes it takes a spark."
For Winters, that spark was this case and he hopes to prevent this from happening in the future.
"I think its time for all the good people who are fed up with budget cuts that directly impact the quality of life to get involved," Winters said. "I can't think of one thing that has more paramount importance than public safety, so where’s the leadership? If we are leading the fight, I'll join in."
Katrease Stafford covers Ypsilanti for AnnArbor.com.Reach her at katreasestafford@annarbor.com or 734-623-2548 and follow her on twitter.
Comments
ChelseaBob
Tue, Oct 23, 2012 : 5:35 p.m.
Those who are bringing politics in need to get their facts straight. The detroit lab closed in 2008. The 7 state labs had to pick up their cases after that. The state labs quickly bogged down and by 2010 were far behind. Jennifer Granholm was governor during this period. See article below. http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2010/04/dna_caseload_backs_up_as_michi.html Snyder was inauguarated in January of 2011 and has not cut funds for state crime lab.
slave2work
Mon, Oct 22, 2012 : 5:34 p.m.
But let's build a bridge..
jns131
Sat, Oct 20, 2012 : 3:16 a.m.
No surprise here. With lawlessness of the world? Heck I would not be surprised if we go back to the wild west days. Would not be surprised if this started at the top.
jcwest32
Fri, Oct 19, 2012 : 12:59 a.m.
"Public safety has to be a top priority and this is part of it," Stumbo said. "To have one crime lab for the whole state, it's unacceptable. Our goal is to try to push the issue. It's kind of sad that there's only one crime lab for the whole state." Why not restore some of the police that your township cut? Plus there is more than one crime lab, the State of Michigan runs seven different labs through out the State. The labs had good turn around until DPD was shut down. Now they are doing twice the work with the same amount of staff. If Detroit opens their lab back up, or the numbers with staff increase for the State, there would be a much faster turn around.
JamesW
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 8:55 p.m.
Nice job, Katrease..! and, way to go brother..!
YpsiVeteran
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 5:02 p.m.
The next Ypsi Township board meeting is this Monday. If this issue is important to you, please consider attending the meeting to let the board know. If you can't make the meeting, please consider an email to board members voice your concern and urge the board to be heard on a state level. Email contact info for board members is here: http://ytown.org/government/board-of-trustees.
YpsiVeteran
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 5:03 p.m.
Correction, " ...consider an email to board members *to* voice your concern..."
Basic Bob
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 3:58 p.m.
I would prefer that we use the common form of the word *linchpin* so it does not get confused with an act of vigilantism.
Cindy Heflin
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 4:07 p.m.
Thanks Basic Bob. We've changed that.
YpsiLivin
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 3:37 p.m.
arborani, Every crime is a priority to the victim. On the surface, this is about individuals who have been victimized. Their evidence is carefully collected and preserved, only so it can sit on a shelf somewhere, waiting quietly for Someday. At the same time, we are all indirectly victimized when we have the tools to identify violent, disturbed criminals who run amok freely in our communities, but we don't use these tools because somehow our legislators have decided that bureaucracy and money should be the gatekeepers of justice. How is it possible to assign a priority to evidence processing? In this case, the alleged perpetrator's DNA was on file because he had been convicted of car theft and a weapons offense. This is, in effect, what busted him. Yet, if you ask the average person, they'll tell you that processing rape evidence is more important than processing a car thief's DNA sample. But will that help catch the car thief who moonlights as a homicidal rapist? The timely processing of DNA evidence, as well as the timely processing of inmate DNA samples, must become a very high priority. If one crime lab isn't good enough to process the mounds of evidence that come in each day/week/month/year, then we need to change the system to accommodate the flow of information that our law enforcement agencies generate. Does this mean opening more state crime labs? Hiring more people to work at the crime lab we have? Jobbing out the processing of DNA evidence to third-party labs? Better funding the crime lab so that it has all of the resources it needs to process the evidence being sent to it timely? This issue doesn't just affect Michigan. Many states are in the same boat. Why not "super-fund" the state crime lab and then take in work from other states to help pay for the lab's operations? If we're willing to take in other states' prisoners for money, why shouldn't we consider processing their evidence, too?
YpsiVeteran
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 3:55 p.m.
YpsiLivin, your ideas for solutions are perfect and very doable. Why not have Michigan become a so-called "Center of Excellence" for the entire region in the processing of evidence samples. Independent labs could be certified and monitored for compliance, and could assist in eliminating the back-log. We could even turn a profit at it. We have to money and the people to open a number of labs in a very short period of time. It appears we, as a state, lack only the desire.
YpsiVeteran
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 3:42 p.m.
Outstanding post. There are no excuses for what's been allowed to happen in this state regarding public safety. None. If we have money for "Pure Michigan" and all the other pet projects funded by the state, we have the money to do everything possible, as quickly as possible, to keep violent predators out of our communities.
arborani
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 2:34 p.m.
Maybe it would help to set up some priorities?
Mike D.
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 1:57 p.m.
@Pamela Bethune With all due respect, what do you know about the crime lab? My understanding is that they are down to a skeleton crew, and it's a simple matter of not having sufficient staffing to keep up with the workload. The classic Republican/Tea Party argument about any government entity, regardless of how efficiently it runs or how infinitesimally small its budget, is that it's being wasteful. Newsflash: It takes people to do work. You can't say that government is evil, refuse to fund it, and expect that it will function when you need it.
Bruce W
Mon, Oct 22, 2012 : 10:32 p.m.
Jennifer Granholm became the first female Governor of Michigan on January 1, 2003, when she succeeded John Engler; she served for 8 years, until January 1, 2011........ Since this case goes back to 2009 I can see it was under Jen's time as Gov, back when Dems controlled state govt. .........so now you want to blame Republicans???????? Who refused to fund it back in 2008,2009, and 2010???????? I know, It was Bush's fault!
Billy Bob Schwartz
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 3:26 p.m.
Superior Twp. Voter: The government *is* in it, and that means politics, too. We elect people to rule in our place, and they make decisions such as these. If the processes "work" like they apparently do in regard to the state crime lab, then the elected people have fallen down on the job we elected them to do. The solution is political. So please don't say not to bring in politics. If you value protection of women (and the rest of us, too) from predators, then elect someone who will do what needs to be done. And the solution probably is not another tax cut.
Superior Twp voter
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 2:51 p.m.
Way to drag politics into it, Mike D.
Pamela Bethune
Thu, Oct 18, 2012 : 12:43 p.m.
I wonder how efficient their processes are? How many people? What is their bottleneck in processing? Have they value-stream mapped their processes? In other words, what have they done in that lab to thoroughly understand their processes and how to make the most of what they have?