Police: Rape suspect, freed because of DNA delay, commits murder
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Police: Rape suspect, freed because of DNA delay, commits murder
February 11, 1999
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — A delay in getting DNA tested led to the
release of
a rape suspect from jail. Eleven days later, police say, he raped and
killed
another woman.
State officials are investigating why it took three months for Virginia
Beach
police to receive the test results from a state lab. The tests
ultimately
matched the man to semen found in the first rape victim.
"It appears it may have been human error,'' said Dr. Paul Ferrara, head
of the
state Division of Forensic Science.
On Aug. 31, an 18-year-old woman was raped and stabbed by a man who
dragged her
behind a vacant house.
Police suspected Christopher Lamont Banks but did not have the evidence
to
charge him. When he was arrested Oct. 20 on a shoplifting charge,
prosecutors
persuaded a judge to jail him while they waited for a DNA test.
The lab received the semen and samples of Banks' blood and hair on Nov.
13,
Ferrara said. Detectives called the lab daily asking for results. They
were
told the testing had to be sent to Richmond because a new lab was being
built
in Norfolk, Ferrara said.
On Jan. 6, prosecutors dropped the shoplifting charge and Banks was
freed.
Eleven days later, Jemma Saunders, 22, disappeared. She was later found
raped
and slain. Investigators said Banks and Ms. Saunders had been seen
getting into
a car together. Banks, 28, was arrested Jan. 23 and jailed without bail
on
murder and rape charges.
Police finally received the test results Feb. 3.
-----------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 2/11/99 online edition of The
Norfolk
Virginian-Pilot newspaper:
Feb. 11, 1999
Lab investigating DNA test delay
BY TIM McGLONE, The Virginian-Pilot
VIRGINIA BEACH -- The state forensic laboratory is investigating how its
mishandling of a case may have resulted in the release of a suspected
rapist
who, police say, went out and raped and killed another woman.
A delay in getting DNA tested at the Tidewater lab in Norfolk forced a
judge to
release the rape suspect, Christopher Lamont Banks, from jail. Eleven
days
later, police say, Banks raped and killed a Beach woman.
``We are investigating the chronology of events that led to these
unfortunate
circumstances,'' said Dr. Paul Ferrara, head of the state Division of
Forensic
Science in Richmond.
``We're trying to reconstruct that, but it appears it may have been
human
error,'' he said. ``Clearly, something went awry in this case.''
Court documents and interviews describe the chain of events and errors
that
began with the Aug. 31 rape and stabbing of a Virginia Beach woman and
ended
with the arrest of Banks on murder charges on Jan. 23.
An 18-year-old woman from the Tivoli Apartments in the Green Run section
was
stabbed, raped and sodomized by a man who dragged her behind a vacant
house as
she walked home from a store.
Court documents show that police had information that led them to Banks
as a
suspect in that rape. Police initially didn't have enough evidence to
charge
him with that crime, but they did collect the rapist's semen from the
victim.
When Banks was arrested on Oct. 20 on a shoplifting charge in Virginia
Beach,
detectives and prosecutors persuaded a judge to hold Banks in jail
without bail
while they waited for a DNA test.
On Nov. 12, detectives obtained a warrant for samples of Banks' blood
and hair.
The samples were sent to the forensic lab in Norfolk for testing.
Ferrara said
the lab received the samples on Nov. 13.
Detectives handling the rape case called the lab daily asking for
results. They
were told the testing had to be sent to Richmond because a new lab is
being
constructed in Norfolk, according to Ferrara.
By this time, Banks had been in the Virginia Beach jail without bond for
about
three weeks and wanted to get out, court documents said.
Banks had a bond hearing on Dec. 16 and a judge set bail at $7,500, but
Banks
was unable to post it.
On Jan. 6, he went back to court to face the shoplifting charge, but
prosecutors decided not to pursue that case. Meanwhile, detectives still
had
not received the DNA test results back from the lab, despite previous
assurances that it was a priority.
``In this case, the examiner and the (Virginia Beach) investigator were
in
constant contact with each other, and yet it appears our examiner did
not give
the sample the appropriate priority he could have,'' Ferrara said.
Without the test results, police and prosecutors had nothing to offer
the judge
to convince him that Banks should continue to be held in jail. On Jan.
6, Banks
was allowed to go free.
Eleven days later, Jemma Saunders, a 22-year-old Virginia Beach woman,
disappeared. Her body was found five days later, on Jan. 22, in a vacant
apartment in the 9500 block of 26th Bay St. in Norfolk. She had been
raped.
Court documents say Banks was the last person seen with Saunders before
she was
killed. They were seen together the day she disappeared, getting into a
1995
Mitsubishi that a friend had allowed Saunders to use.
On Jan. 23, Banks was arrested after police stopped him driving that
car.
On Feb. 3, three months after Banks' blood sample was sent to the lab,
Virginia
Beach detectives got the results back: The DNA in the blood matched that
in the
semen found on the Aug. 31 rape victim.
Ferrara said the Beach detectives only got the results back after Chief
Charles
R. Wall called him to report the problem.
Law enforcement sources now say that had they had those results sooner,
Banks
could have been kept in jail and Saunders' homicide could have been
prevented.
``I understand all that,'' Ferrara said. ``We'll be conducting an
internal
investigation.''
``We go to great lengths to try to prioritize all the work in these
cases,
balancing our limited resources against the demand,'' he said. ``But I
can't
give excuses.''
Banks, 28, remains in the Norfolk jail without bail, facing charges of
capital
murder, rape, robbery and possession of stolen property.
Norfolk detectives filed court papers on Tuesday seeking their own set
of blood
and hair samples from Banks in an effort to link him through DNA to the
Saunders homicide.
Staff writer Jon Frank contributed to this report.