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Sunday, November 4, 2018
Aid comes from handling rape kit backlog
Many cases referred for investigation, existing probe boosted by new evidence from DNA samples
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Two years after the Georgia Gen
eral Assembly passed a law to elim
inate a backlog of untested rape
kits, those new tests already helped
prosecutors for the Northeastern
Judicial Circuit covering Hall and
Dawson Counties.
Chief Assistant District Attorney
Wanda Vance said none of the kits,
which include potential DNA sam
ples in a suspected sexual assault,
resulted in a new prosecution, but
a tested kit has been used as evi
dence in an existing case.
“It was kind of decided because
maybe that victim didn’t want to
have to go forward necessarily,
because of different issues in the
case, that it would be better used
to get a prison sentence and a sex
offender sentence,” Vance said.
Senate Bill 304, known as the
“Compassionate Care for Victims
of Sexual Assault Act,” requires law
enforcement agencies gathering
sexual assault nurse examiner kits
to submit the evidence to the Geor
gia Bureau of Investigation “within
30 days of it being collected.”
The GBI then processed all of kits
for a hit against the Combined DNA
Index System, known as CODIS.
“That means, running the DNA
evidence through the federal
CODIS database to determine if
there is a potential DNA match.
After testing, GBI notifies the sub
mitting jurisdiction of the result and
CODIS upload. DNA profiles are
stored in CODIS and may result in
future hits,” according to the Crimi
nal Justice Coordinating Council.
GBI officials said 177 kits were
submitted by Hall County-area law
enforcement following the law.
Vance and other members of
the local Sexual Assault Response
Team, comprising prosecutors, law
enforcement and advocates such
as those with the nonprofit Rape
Response, said they have received
a list of roughly 30 cases that have
been referred for investigation.
Vance said in October that sev
eral are still in investigation, and
some could be prosecuted.
“Some of the issues we’ve seen
with some of the cases are, obvi
ously, witnesses moved out of state
or we don’t have good contact info
so we’re trying to see if witnesses
are still available,” she said.
The use of the kit in an existing
case came under Rule 404(b) of the
Georgia Evidence Code, in which
prosecutors are allowed to present
in certain circumstances evidence
of other crimes.
“It may, however, be admis
sible for other purposes, including,
but not limited to, proof of motive,
opportunity, intent, prepara
tion, plan, knowledge, identity, or
absence of mistake or accident,”
according to the Georgia code.
■ Please see RAPE KIT, 2C
‘We need these people’
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Members of the Believers Band perform during a veteran’s appreciation event at Roosevelt Square on Saturday, Nov. 3.
Supporters gather for collaborative veterans appreciation event
Attendees applaud following a performance during the event.
BY LAYNE SALIBA
lsaliba@gainesvilletimes.com
A mix of veterans groups
and their supporters settled
on Roosevelt Square in down
town Gainesville on Saturday
to celebrate those who serve
our country.
It was the first collab
orative veterans event in
Gainesville as groups like
the Veterans of Foreign Wars
Post 8452, American Legion
Post 7, Marine Corps League
665 and the 40&8 Voiture 1317
joined together for an appre
ciation festival from noon to
3 p.m.
The Believers Concert
Band, made up of members
who range in age from 13 to
90-plus, was there playing
songs like “The Washington
Post March” and the “The
Star-Spangled Banner.”
The program’s guest
speaker, Jesse Johnson, who
retired from the United States
Army in 2001, described who
he believes a veteran is.
“Veterans are men and
women who donned the uni
form of our country, and
stand between freedom and
tyranny, who take up the
sword of justice in defense
of the liberties we hold dear,
who preserve peace and calm
the winds of the war,” John
son said.
He said he supports any sort
of event, whether it’s Memo
rial Day, Veterans Day or an
appreciation like the one Sat
urday, because it “pushes our
military,” which he believes
the country needs.
Lucy Valencia was sit
ting near the back, watching
with her friend Regina Totty.
Valencia moved from Colom
bia to New Jersey 34 years
ago and came to Georgia in
1986. She said she was there
to support veterans because
“everybody who’s doing
something for the country”
deserves to be honored.
The event struck a differ
ent chord with her, though,
because her son is training
to be in law enforcement.
Although he won’t be serving
in the military, she said she
is proud to have him serving
the community. “I feel a little
bit scared, but I just pray,
like I pray every day for this
country,” Valencia said. “I’m
■ Please see VETERANS, 4C
GAINESVILLE
Doc sees hope
in Alzheimer’s
disease trial
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Hope is what pushes Jeanette Rees to make
the two-hour drive to Gainesville from her
home in Murphy, NC.
Showing early brain-related signs of
Alzheimer’s disease, the 74-year-old woman
plans to battle the progressive brain disease
through a clinical trial being conducted at the
Center for Advanced Research and Education
in Gainesville.
“I’m in the last stage of mild cognitive
impairment,” Rees said in a visit last week to
the center. “The neurologist basically said,
‘You won’t get better,’
but they’re hoping with
the (trial) medication to
stop it there and avoid
going into (full-blown)
Alzheimer’s.”
Doctors are hoping
for even more from an
experimental drug that
not only could stop the
formation of Alzheim-
er’s-defining plaques
and tangles in the brain
but “to dissolve what’s
there,’’said Dr. Chris
Recknor, a Gainesville
internist and co-founder
of the center at 2350
Limestone Parkway.
“This is a game
changer,” said Recknor,
whose wife, Dr. Julie
Recknor, also helped
start the center and is the clinical trials
manager.
The drug, if it performs as hoped, “is like
taking a scab off,” he said. “The skin is normal
underneath it, and the nerves are normal. We
just need to get that (area) cleaned off so the
nerve functions (properly).”
The center is among a handful of sites in the
Southeast and 15 in the U.S. taking part in the
three-year trial. Efforts have been underway
since Aug. 1 to have 1,500 people worldwide —
700 in the U.S. alone — participate in the trial.
“Finding a cure for everyone would be a
wonderful thing for everyone,” said Dr. Angela
Ritter, a South Hall family practitioner partici
pating in the research. “All we have now are
medications that help slow down the disease.”
Participants must have Alzheimer’s or
Alzheimer’s symptoms to be trial candidates.
Alzheimer’s is the most common form of
dementia.
To qualify for the trial, prospects must go
through a medical screening and take a mem
ory test. If a magnetic resonance imaging of
the brain looks OK, doctors conduct a positron
emission tomography, or PET, scan which
examines the brain using a special dye with
radioactive tracers.
“Everything in the trial is free,” Ritter said.
The drug used in the test specifically targets
■ Please see CLINIC, 5C
Alzheimer’s
clinical trial
For more
information
about
participating
in a clinical
trial involving
Alzheimer’s
disease, contact
Tina Foreman
at the Center
for Advanced
Research and
Education at
678-928-6476
or 678-928-
6500, option 1,
or by emailing
her, tforeman@
carega.net.
BARGAIN READS AT HALL COUNTY LIBRARY BOOK SALE
Left: Diane Williams of Gainesville looks through a row of books during a book
sale at the Hall County Library System’s Gainesville branch on Saturday, Nov. 3.
The two-day event is hosted by Friends of the Hall County Library, a nonprofit
organization whose mission is to fundraise and advocate for the library system.
Above: Books are lined up by genre for customers during the book sale on
Saturday, Nov. 3. More photos on page 5C
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
