COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Proposed Ohio Senate legislation would extend the statute of limitations for rape and sexual battery crimes amid an ongoing state initiative to test rape kits to help solve reported sexual assaults.
The Northeast Ohio Media Group reports the bill introduced last week would allow prosecutors to file charges 20 years after DNA evidence in rape and sexual battery cases is found, regardless of when the crime took place.
A testing initiative announced by Attorney General Mike DeWine in 2011 offers free DNA testing to law enforcement agencies with untested rape kits. A January report showed testing has led to 2,224 DNA matches in a criminal database.