Last week, an Orleans Parrish jury in Louisiana found Troy Taylor guilty of forcible rape and second-degree kidnapping for a crime committed 17 years ago. A hit through the Combined DNA Indexing System (CODIS) matched Taylor to the 1994 rape of a then-18-year-old victim. Taylor’s DNA was taken after an unrelated arrest in 2009.
Two things are notable about this case: First, DNA information must be entered into CODIS for any crime where it’s collected. Second, backlogged kits can and do solve crimes!
This case proves, in addition to the need to enter DNA information in to CODIS and eradicate the backlog, all states, as in Virginia, should remove any statute of limitations on rape cases…