MEMPHIS, Tenn. — At a press conference Tuesday, Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said he's officially pushing for a forensic crime lab to be built in Memphis, after he said the city's solve rate for crimes in 2023 was "unacceptably low."
Mulroy said he wants the crime lab to serve Memphis and Shelby County, which currently has to send forensic evidence of crimes - such as shell casings, blood, rape kits, etc. - to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's West Tennessee crime center in Jackson. To Mulroy, it doesn't make sense to send evidence from Memphis to Jackson based on the sheer amount of crime happening in Memphis.
"If we had a local crime lab, think about how we could solve car break-ins and business break-ins faster," Mulroy said. "It could also allow more ballistic testing and cell phone evidence for non-homicides. This could help our solve rate, which was unacceptably low in 2023."
Mulroy referenced the death of Eliza Fletcher when it came to clearing the back log of untested rape kits in Shelby County.
The issue drew new attention following Fletcher's murder in 2022, some saying it could have been prevented had a previous kit of her accused killer Cleotha Abston been tested faster.
Rape kit test results linking Abston’s DNA to Alicia Franklin, who said she was assaulted in September 2021 by Abston, were posted nearly a year later, the same day authorities discovered Fletcher’s body. Smith says rape kit testing turnaround should, and could be even faster than what lawmakers are aiming for.
In 2022, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said more than 1,000 kits sat in state labs untested. As of August, the number is less than 500.
TBI also says it has cut down the time it takes to test those kits by more than half. In July, 2022, it took the TBI almost a year to test a sexual assault kit at the state lab in Jackson, which is where Shelby County kits go. This year, according to TBI data, it is less than 18 weeks.
ABC24 reached out to TBI for their response to Mulroy's press conference announcement. They said the following:
"Our Crime Laboratory located in Jackson continues to provide the best service possible for all of our law enforcement partners throughout the West Tennessee region and the entire state as new personnel from the last two budget cycles continue to complete training and help improve evidence turnaround times. There are no current plans for additional TBI Crime Lab facilities. We remain committed to working with all accredited laboratories to best serve our state."
