FIGHTING BACK

Rape Kit DNA Used to Charge Sexual Assault Victim in Unrelated Burglary in San Francisco

The woman is now suing the city of San Francisco.

In 2016, a Jane Doe reported a sexual assault to the San Francisco Police Department. In doing so, she handed over her DNA to the department by way of a rape kit—but years later, the department would use that same DNA sample to connect Doe to a burglary and she was charged with property theft in 2021. Now, she’s suing the city in federal court for violating her privacy, FOX 2 Now reports. A search of the police department’s crime lab database revealed that the SFPD kept her DNA for over six years. “Her DNA was likely tested in thousands of criminal investigations, though the police had absolutely no reason to believe that she was involved in any of the incidents,” her attorneys wrote in the lawsuit. In February, then District Attorney Chesa Boudin said the crime lab told his office that keeping the DNA on file for future testing was standard procedure.