While Richard Cordray was Attorney General of Ohio, he allowed thousands of rape kits to go untested, leaving hundreds of serial criminals to remain unpunished. Now, he wants the people of Ohio to trust him enough to elect him governor. Why should they?
Under Cordray, a backlog of 12,000 rape kits had piled up, untested. It wasn’t until Mike DeWine became Attorney General that they were finally tested and victims were given some sense of closure - if not justice.
Take the case of Allyssa Allison. She was brutally raped in her home, but because her rape kit went untested her attacker was never caught. After her kit was tested, police not only identified the perpetrator (by that time he was deceased), but they also determined he was a serial rapist. While Allison’s rape kit sat piling dust, the criminal was able to live out the rest of his life without facing any consequences.
Unfortunately, Allison wasn’t alone. As of early 2018, in fact, nearly 14,000 rape kits had been tested. The results? Three hundred suspected serial offenders were linked to 1,127 crimes - mostly rapes. While that’s certainly good news, who knows how many assaults could have been prevented if Cordray had taken rape kit testing seriously. Instead of putting rapists behind bars, Cordray essentially let them remain unpunished.
As Attorney General, Richard Cordray failed to protect rape victims in Ohio, period. There’s no reason to think he wouldn’t fail them again as Governor.