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A state-wide audit in 2015 found that Kentucky had 3,090 untested rape kits. The Forensic Laboratory of the Kentucky Police has facilitated the testing of DNA evidence kits through a laboratory located in Utah.
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Henry Crawford (Photo: Kentucky Corrections Department)

A man already serving a 200-year prison sentence for rape was charged on Wednesday with the death penalty. a new charge of raping the DNA tests of a badual badault kit of 1983.

Henry Crawford, 53, is accused of raping a 52-year-old woman at the age of Louisville

. Now, 88, the woman is aware of the indictment and is ready to participate in the trial.

"We are happiest, at least from our point of view, to be able to bring some kind of response to a woman who has waited years and years," Ryane said. Conroy, the attorney of the badistant prosecutor in charge of the case. , at a press conference Wednesday.

When the evidence was collected in 1983, the state did not test the kits in which there was no suspect, said Tom Wine, a Jefferson Commonwealth lawyer.

What tests could be done at that time? became more sophisticated until the 1990s, he said.

Read this: Andy Beshear claims that the backlog of the rape kit is fixed, but the lawsuits are still late

The kit was submitted for laboratory testing in 2016 The department sent more than 1,000 kits to the Forensic Laboratory of the Kentucky Police as part of a test campaign to test the old kits.

In the Crawford case, it is not yet clear whether the rape kit has already been sent for a test before the last initiative.

Police and prosecutors at Wednesday's press conference provided little detail on the alleged crime of August 1983, citing the pending case.

Crawford, serving his sentence at the Green River Correctional Complex in Central City, Kentucky, owes Jefferson Circuit Court Monday for the indictment on rape, first degree and first degree contempt charges. fourth-degree aggression.

This is the second indictment in Jefferson County following a recent campaign to test delayed, untested rape kits in law enforcement and medical laboratories. -legal of the police.

Last July, Cornelius Miller – who has multiple convictions for rape – was charged with a single rape charge for badually badaulting a woman in July 2012 in Louisville.

A: ] Testing old rape kits leads to first charge in Louisville

At the time of the indictment, Miller was already in jail with rape charges pending in connection with two alleged badaults of 2015. He pleaded not guilty.

Crawford's Past

Evidence of the Sexual Assault Kit in the 1983 rape case is the second time that DNA evidence has been used to link Crawford to a crime .

In the mid-2000s, Crawford was sent to jail for burglary charges and his DNA profile was entered into the combined DNA index system, a database of data collected by the police. Federal DNA known as CODIS, according to court records.

His DNA corresponded to a 1990 badual badault kit collected in Jefferson County by the victim of a home invasion who, after returning from his daughter to daycare, was attacked by a man who was hiding at home.

Attacked from behind, tied up and blindfolded, the woman was raped, the court records are detailed. By partially escaping from her ties, she ran outside and drew the attention of a pbading truck.

Her case was cold until the 2006 DNA match.

A woman says Louisville police lied to her about an investigation into rape

Conroy, the prosecutor charged with the new 1983 rape charge, also sued Crawford in 2007.

Crawford was convicted in 2010 on multiple charges, including rape and burglary, and sentenced to 200 years in prison.

Upon conviction, the Courier Journal reported that Crawford told the judge that he had not had a fair trial and that he was "not a rapist, has never been, never will be. "

Examination by the State Auditor found nearly 3,200 untested rape kits in law enforcement agencies and the Kentucky State Police Crime Laboratory .

These kits have since been tested by an out-of-state laboratory, and about 2,600 have undergone an additional internal examination by the KSP Crime Lab. Nearly 1,300 DNA profiles were seized from federal databases, according to the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, the state-run coalition of 13 rape crisis centers.

State Police received a grant from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office in New York. have kits batch tested in a laboratory based in Utah, which will allow Kentucky labs to track current cases.

The Kentucky Attorney General's Office also received a grant of nearly $ 3 million in 2017 to test up to 1,500 additional kits, many of which were sent to the KSP's Forensic Laboratory but n & # 39; 39 have not been tested for various reasons. enforcement.

This test process is underway.

Journalist Matthew Glowicki can be contacted at 502-582-4989 or [email protected]. Support a strong local journalism by registering today: www.courier-journal.com/mattg.

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