Program Leads to Suspect in Rape

For nearly six years, the Inglewood Police Department’s investigation of the rape and assault of a 14-year-old girl was virtually dormant.

Detectives followed all their leads and collected DNA evidence, yet they could not make any arrests, Lt. Eve R. Irvine said.

But earlier this week, a new $50-million state program produced a breakthrough in the case, she said.

Using the new funds, the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s forensic lab found a match with a registered sex offender.

On Tuesday, police arrested Michael Hill, 36, of Lancaster and Los Angeles.

Irvine said the department will ask the district attorney’s office to file rape charges today.

The case is one of the first using DNA matches financed under the “Cold Hit” grant program. The new effort is intended to help law enforcement agencies solve old sexual assault cases and current cases in which no suspects have been identified.

In the past, police agencies usually had enough money only to do DNA testing in cases in which they already had a suspect. But with the state funding, departments can use the DNA evidence gathered at a crime scene and try to match it with DNA profiles collected from people convicted of certain crimes and stored in state and national crime databanks. These crimes include sexual assaults, murders, kidnappings and assaults.

Irvine said Hill’s DNA profile was in the databank because he was convicted of aiding in a rape and is a registered sex offender.

The California Department of Justice’s databank contains more than 200,000 DNA profiles.

“This program brings us out of the dark ages so that we are at least contemporary with other agencies across the country,” said Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley. “Virginia, which is so much smaller than California, is so far ahead of us it isn’t even funny.”

Cooley has created a forensic science section in his office and beefed up the resources to prosecute cases involving DNA evidence.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lisa Kahn, head of the section, said the state program should put a big dent in the about 30,000 unsolved sexual assault cases in California.

“Up until now, [evidence collected] in rape kits just sat in the freezers,” she said. In many cases, it was destroyed when statutes of limitations expired, she said.

“Now, we hope we can bring some closure for some of these rape victims, and we eventually will begin to prevent rapes by getting more of these repeat offenders off the street. We will begin to see our [arrest] numbers skyrocket in the next few years.”