Daily Briefs

Holder to give keynote at NAACP dinner May 6
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will deliver the keynote address at next month’s Detroit NAACP’s 57th Annual Fight For Freedom Fund dinner.

The event will be held May 6 at Cobo Center. Holder follows U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia who gave last year’s keynote.

Other recent speakers at the event have included civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., and former President Bill Clinton.

Holder was appointed attorney general by President Barack Obama. He served as senior legal adviser to the Obama campaign in 2007-2008 and was acting U.S. Attorney General in 2001.

The Detroit chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has billed the event as its largest annual fundraiser, drawing 10,000 people each year.

State police creating rape kit testing unit
NORTHVILLE (AP) — A new state police unit is being created to help speed along the processing of sexual assault kits from the Detroit area and southeast Michigan.

The unit will be located at the Northville Forensic Science Laboratory northwest of Detroit and include a team of DNA experts. It is expected to be operational by early summer.

“We need to ensure we are doing all we can to be quick and comprehensive in our response to these crimes,” state police director Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue said in a recent release.

Nationwide, an estimated 180,000 to 400,000 rape kits remain untested, despite DNA technology that can swiftly link rapists to crimes.
Between 9,000 and 11,300 rape kits stored by Detroit police were collected two years ago by the state police.

The kits are being documented and tested in batches as part of a National Institute for Justice project. Initially, about 400 were chosen. Earlier this year, another batch of about 1,000 was identified for testing. The Wayne County prosecutor’s office and a Michigan State University researcher also are involved in the project.

The kits — 10-inch-long boxes containing swabs, evidence envelopes and information sheets detailing the examination, complications and a list of 24-hour rape crisis centers — can cost $1,200 to $1,500 to test.

“Evidence items contained in these kits are collected directly from traumatized victims in a medical environment,” said John Collins, state police forensic science director. “It’s not good enough for our laboratories to be experts at testing rape kits. We need to fully understand and appreciate every nuance and detail that can possibly bring offenders to justice.”

The Michigan State Police crime lab currently processes sexual assault kits for all police agencies in Michigan.

Panel on E-Discovery in Criminal Cases
The Criminal Practice Committee of the Federal Bar Association will present a panel discussion entitled “E-Discovery in Criminal Cases.”

The one-hour program will be presented on May 10, 2012, at noon, in Room 115 of the Theodore Levin United States Courthouse. The panel will include United States District Judges David M. Lawson and Robert H. Cleland, as well as a representative from the United States Attorney’s Office and a criminal defense attorney. Panel members will identify and discuss the emerging “hot topics” in criminal e-discovery and how the federal courts are addressing e-discovery challenges in criminal cases. There is no charge to attend. Attendees are invited to bring a brown bag lunch. R.S.V.P. to Joe Richotte at (313) 225-7045 or richotte@butzel.com.

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