The Daily Star reports today that two former SUNY Delhi students, 21-year-old Darwyn Lynch and 21-year-old Edy Toussaint, were arrested and arraigned in Delaware County Court on Monday. The two were charged with the rape of a fellow student on September 11, 2009.
Lynch and Toussaint were each arraigned on felony charges of first-degree rape, first-degree criminal sexual act and first-degree sexual abuse, as wells as misdemeanor charges of second-degree unlawful imprisonment.
Delaware County District Attorney Richard Northrup said both men face the same charges, but only one of the men allegedly had sexual intercourse and oral sexual contact with the victim.
The second defendant allegedly held the victim down during the incident.
Notice the date. (Besides the obviously gruesome anniversary.) Over a year went by between the assault and the arrest of its alleged perpetrators.
From the Daily Star:
[Delaware County District Attorney Richard] Northrup said the victim reported the rape immediately after it occurred, but the DNA testing took a while, which delayed the arrests for a year.
He added that Lynch and Toussaint were suspects from the start.
Why did it take so long to do the DNA testing? The story doesn't say, and we can only speculate.
But here's a little context, just in case it's relevant. Crime labs across the country, many already strained by heavy caseloads and budgetary restrictions, have been especially backed up since a Supreme Court decision last year (Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts). The ruling means that in most states, lab techs are required to testify in court in cases that rely on laboratory testing.
In a July 15, 2009 story, the Washington Post reported that the ruling is straining state crime lab resources, especially in rural areas:
States and counties across the country handle evidence differently, so the problems caused by the ruling vary widely. But many jurisdictions have a similar issue: Crime labs that test drug and DNA samples face huge backlogs even when scientists and analysts do not have to testify. If the workers are taken out of the labs to appear in court, those backlogs will grow.
Forensic Magazine has an in-depth article about the Melendez-Diaz case, the legal reasoning behind it, and where it fits in with existing criminal law.
Besides the new burdens imposed by Melendez-Diaz, New York State's crime lab system has other problems. A scathing report by the New York Times on an investigation into the crime lab last year found "systemic problems" with the system -- including shoddy evidence-gathering, attempts to cover up problems at the lab, and a longtime employee whose training was so inadequate that he couldn't operate a microscope. The analyst hanged himself after the allegations became public.
...[W]hen the State Police became aware of the analyst’s misconduct, an internal review by superiors in the Albany lab deliberately omitted information implicating other analysts and suggesting systemic problems with the way evidence was handled, the report said. Instead, the review focused blame mostly on the analyst, Garry Veeder, who committed suicide in May 2008 during the internal inquiry.
In accordance with laws on campus crime reporting, SUNY Delhi keeps logs of all crimes reported on campus.
Update, 10/23/2013: In October of 2013, a jury found Darwyn Lynch not guilty in Delaware County court. Edy Touissant agreed to a plea bargain to a lesser charge in 2011, in exchange for testifying against Lynch. The Walton Reporter has an account of Lynch's trial.
