Crime Lab Fails SF Trans Women

DNA samples collected in a 2007 rape and murder of a transgender prostitute in San Francisco languished unprocessed by San Francisco police until this past September. In the meantime, three more transgender prostitutes were raped and brutalized before the suspect, Donzell Francis, 41, of San Francisco, was identified, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Francis, now in custody and facing trial on separate kidnapping and rape charges, had a history of drug crimes and violence, including a 2001 attack in which he slashed a woman's face with a razor blade. He was imprisoned for five years and his DNA was stored in a state data bank in 2004. Yet he remained unidentified in the March 2007 rape and strangulation murder of Ruby Ordenana (pictured), because the DNA samples gathered at the scene of that murder were collecting dust in a San Francisco crime lab.

The Chronicle describes the three attacks that took place before authorities identified Francis as a suspect: "On Sept. 10, 2007, a prostitute from the Tenderloin was choked and raped before being dumped naked across town. The 32-year-old victim survived, and police were able to obtain DNA evidence. Two weeks later, on Sept. 24, another transgender prostitute was raped and pistol-whipped after being picked up in the South of Market. The 39-year-old victim was found naked after she escaped from her attacker in the Western Addition. Once again, police obtained DNA samples. On Feb. 5, 2008, a 28-year-old transgender woman was picked up in the Tenderloin, severely beaten and dumped naked in the Potrero Hill neighborhood. She spent 15 days at San Francisco General Hospital."

In February 2008, Francis's DNA was linked to the September 24, 2007 attack, and he was arrested, but charges against him were dropped because the victim left town without testifying. This past January, authorities found a DNA link between him and the other September 2007 attack, on which Francis is currently facing charges. It wasn't until two months ago that authorities found a DNA connection between him and Ordenana's killing. He has not yet been charged in that case, although prosecutors say they may file homicide charges after his rape and kidnapping trial.

Assistant police chief Kevin Cashman admits the case "could have been handled better" by the crime lab and accepted that the case "should have been given a much higher priority."

Read the full report here.