Poor Mojo's Newswire

For years, the Houston Police Department has conceded about 4,000 rape kits — all untested — are stored in a property room freezer, but a recent inventory shows there are potentially thousands more containing never-examined evidence from sexual assault cases. "I think that's a disgrace and a disservice to women and the victims," said Johnny Mata, an activist with the Greater Houston Coalition for Justice. "What's happening right now is not acceptable" According to department officials and figures compiled for a grant awarded to HPD from the National Institute of Justice this year, more than 3,000 kits stored in air-conditioned sections of the property room may not have been tested in addition to the 4,220 untested kits in a property room freezer. The estimate of additional kits is based on a random sampling. Not only can untested sexual assault evidence cause delays in justice for rape victims, it also can lead to the conviction of innocent people. Last month, the Houston Chronicle reported on a 1995 rape case that was solved after DNA evidence in the case, never previously analyzed, was tested. The suspect in the case, Roland Ali Westbrooks, was serving a prison sentence for a similar rape committed two years later. . . .

McFarland hurt himself June 30, 2009, in a fall at his Woodacre home. His wife called 911, but when paramedics arrived, McFarland refused to be taken to a hospital and signed forms declining medical assistance. Sheriff's Deputies Justin Zebb and Erin Mittenthal arrived at the home shortly thereafter "without consent and without a warrant," said McFarland's suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Deputies are automatically dispatched to most medical calls. County officials said McFarland made a comment to the deputies about shooting himself. His attorneys have said an embarrassed McFarland was joking about his fall. After McFarland ordered the deputies to "get out of (the) house," Zebb pulled out his Taser and told McFarland to come with him to the hospital, the suit said. When McFarland got up from his sofa, the deputy shocked him several times. McFarland was initially arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest, but the case was dropped. The incident was captured by cameras that are activated when the Taser's safety latch is removed.