Kaine issues orders on sexual, domestic violence

Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has issued an executive order designed to help preserve evidence gathered from sexual-assault victims who initially are reluctant to proceed with criminal charges against their attackers.

Executive Order 92 directs the state's Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services to store Physical Evidence Recovery Kits gathered from health-care providers.

Kaine said Virginia law currently requires that victims alleging sexual assault receive a forensic exam by a health-care provider, whether or not the victim chooses to cooperate with law enforcement.

But health-care providers are not equipped to hold onto the kits in a way that preserves the chain of custody of the evidence for law-enforcement officials, should a victim later decide to press charges.

"It's uncertain as to what happens with the evidence in instances where we have law enforcement that will not accept evidence without an identifier for a criminal complaint," the governor said.

He said the executive order closes the gap by requiring that the unidentified kits go to the state lab for storage, where they will be held for up to 120 days.

Kaine made the announcement yesterday at a meeting of the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance at the Holiday Inn Koger Center in Chesterfield County. The meeting, which focused on developing a coordinated response to domestic violence, was attended by more than 250 state and local advocates, domestic-violence counselors, prosecutors and law-enforcement officers.

The governor also announced Executive Order 93, which will establish a domestic-violence work group through 2011 to implement the recommendations of the Governor's Commission on Sexual Violence.

The commission is credited with helping pass legislation in 2008 that now prohibits polygraph testing of victims alleging sexual assault, and a law that requires the state, not the alleged victim, to pay for evidence kits.

Recent legislation also mandates the immediate entry of protective orders in the Virginia Criminal Information Network.

Kaine has declared October "Domestic Violence Awareness Month."

Contact Jim Nolan at (804) 649-6061 or .