AG candidate Laxalt promises to cut rape test kit backlog

Attorney General candidate Adam Laxalt vowed Tuesday to push to drastically cut or eliminate a backlog of thousands of untested rape kits in Nevada, including 4,385 in Las Vegas — some dating from a decade ago.

The backlog is due to several factors, including the high cost of $1,000 to $1,500 to process each of the kits, which are used to collect DNA, hair, urine, blood or other bodily fluids as evidence. Authorities also say some kits aren’t tested because an attacker pleads guilty, charges aren’t filed or better evidence exists to prosecute a perpetrator.

Laxalt, an attorney, said if elected attorney general he would assign a team of investigators and lawyers to deal with the backlog and possibly eliminate it “by the end of my first term,” or four years. He said he would seek federal grants, ask for funding from the Legislature and use money from the AG’s office to pay for the effort.

“I will lean on law enforcement to keep this issue at the top of the list even when it seems cases are hard because of uncooperative witnesses,” Laxalt said in a statement. “As we know, these rapists who go unfound continue to attack our women and children. Processing our backlog will get dangerous criminals off the streets for good.”

U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., recently announced a $650,000 federal grant for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to address its rape kit backlog.

In Washoe County, the 2008 rape and murder of Brianna Denison prompted local authorities to deal with the backlog of rape kits. As a result, the backlog is almost gone in Northern Nevada, Laxalt noted.

“This is something we shouldn’t accept,” Laxalt said in an interview of rape kits sitting in storage for years.

Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919. Find her on Twitter: @lmyerslvrj.