It’s one of the most brutal crimes that could be perpetrated on you, sometimes even worse than murder because you live to relive the experience through your entire life. It’s horrific because you have been overpowered by one or more persons who subdue you using sheer physical strength and then violate your body. And it’s terrible that you have to go through a trial where you’re made to recollect your worst memories and even have defense lawyers try to attack your morality.
Before the discovery of DNA, it was hard to prove rape cases conclusively. It was the word of the victim against that of the perpetrator – one alleged the other to be the criminal and the other denied it. Finally, it was the more skillful lawyer who decided who won. Today though, with the advances that have been made in the field of forensic medicine, it’s easy to determine who is lying.
Take the case of Armand Villasana who was accused by Judith Lummis of kidnap, rape and sodomy in 1998 and convicted of the same a year later. Lummis described him to a police profiler who drew a picture of the suspect; she later picked Villasana from a lineup. He was convicted following testimony from Lummis.
However, during Villasana’s hearing in 2000, thanks to DNA testing and the efforts of a few relatives, the case against him was dismissed and he was released after a DNA profile constructed from a vaginal swab, the hospital sheet and Lummis’ pants proved conclusively that Villasana was not the perpetrator of the crime. This evidence had been left out of the initial trial, and although Lummis stuck to her story, Villasana was a free man. Free, but not cleared of the crime – a fact that makes a huge difference when you’re trying to fit in with society and move on with your life.
It took another seven years for Villasana to be vindicated completely – the DNA profile of another inmate turned out to match the sample that was preserved from this case, and the truth came tumbling out. Lummis was having an affair, a fact that she wanted hidden from her husband. So she lied about having been kidnapped and raped. Her boyfriend, who was now in prison for another crime, spilled the beans under interrogation, following which Lummis also confessed.
DNA evidence in rape cases has proved more than once that the truth will come to light, no matter how many years go by.