TALLAHASSEE, Fla. [AP] – A bill approved by the House Criminal Justice & Public Safety Subcommittee would require the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to create a database available to victims so they can track the processing of rape test kits from the day evidence is taken throughout the testing process.
The bill is called “Gail’s Law,” based on a woman who waited 30 years for her rape kit to be tested.
In Florida in 1988, an intruder came into Gail Gardner’s home and raped her while her youngest son was in the room. She reported the crime and DNA evidence was collected during an exam.
The kit was not processed until the state finished clearing a backlog of unprocessed evidence in 2019. Last November, she found out her attacker was connected to the sexual assaults of 15 other women.
“He was a serial rapist. I also learned that he had been in prison for most of the 32 years while I suffered and wondered if he would ever hurt me again,” Gardner told lawmakers.
She said she lived in fear for decades not knowing where her attacker was. He is currently serving two life sentences.
“It was not until 2015 that I could sleep straight through the night. I would be looking through the blinds, sleeping with the lights on and calling the police because of every strange, yet unfounded noise,” she said. “I felt safer when I was outside of the home, or sleeping as a guest or at a hotel than sleeping in my own home.”
The Associated Press said they do not typically identify rape victims, but Gardner wanted to publicly tell her story.
Democratic Rep. Emily Slosberg, the bill’s sponsor, said today’s technology allows people to easily track package and food deliveries.
“Why should we be able to track a pizza more efficiently than we can track evidence in a criminal case? This is something that the state should already be doing,” Slosberg said.
In 2019, Florida finished clearing a backlog of more than 8,000 unprocessed kits which they began doing more than five years ago. State law now requires the kits to be submitted for testing within 30 days and laboratories process them within 120 days.
The House bill has two more committee stops before being considered by the full chamber. A Senate bill has two more committee stops.
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March 23, 2021 at 06:13PM
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Florida bill would let victims track rape kit processing - WZVN-TV
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