Now, it’s 41 days, according to state crime lab director Amy Lightfoot.
“It s exciting to be in a place where we re able to process kits as they come in the door instead of taking in evidence and then having it wait,” Lightfoot said. “So it s a huge, huge benefit and a big relief.
The lab has also started using robotics and changed its workflow to help speed up the process.
Lightfoot said she expects that average processing time to get down to their goal of 30 days by the end of April.
Faster turnaround times can have big impacts on survivors, said Katherine Aguilera, Director of Advocacy Services at the Rape Recovery Center in Salt Lake City.
I didn t clean myself. That s the best thing you can do. Do not clean yourself up. Do not. Just because you feel dirty or scared, do not. Because that s raw DNA on your body, said Trent.
Blood and semen marks were on Trent s bedding. She said police took all her sheets and pillows for DNA testing and evidence.
A friend drove her to the University of Tennessee Medical Center and DNA was collected using a Sexual Assault Kit. It s very overwhelming. It s a lot of people asking you the same questions, she said.
Trent said to investigators and medical staff that she couldn t describe her attacker. She could only confirm that he was Black and around 6 tall.
Florida once had a backlog of more than 13,000 rape kits, but legislation in 2016 helped clear the backlog. Now lawmakers are looking to go even further to ensure kits are tested in a timely manner.
KUER
Yes, 2020 was the year of COVID. But here’s a timeline of the other interesting stuff that happened in Utah last year, too.
January: Impeachment, Sundance and Condomgate
Jon Reed
The Sundance Film Festival drew more than 100,000 people to Park City Utah.
The year began with the end of the controversial Southern Red Sands Mine project in Kanab, and by the middle of January there was just one thing at the top of people’s minds: Impeachment.
It was also this month that the Utah Department of Health faced its first crisis of the year: Condomgate. Gov. Gary Herbert quickly blocked the HIV prevention campaign that sent out thousands of condoms with sex-positive, Utah-themed packaging. But his plan to protect Utahns from such tastlessness wasn’t entirely effective full sets of the profalactics with messages like “Greatest Sex on Earth and “Explore Utah’s Caves” appeared on Ebay days later.