UPDATED: Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Task Force Member Claims AG Hunter Refusing to Help, AG Office Says Not True

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include quotes from Task Force Member Danielle Tudor and the Attorney General’s Office.

Just a day after a deadline for law enforcement agencies to report the number of untested rape kits in their possession to the Attorney General’s Office, a member of the Oklahoma Task Force on Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence claims AG Mike Hunter is refusing to support the effort. The AG’s Office begs to differ and refers to its staff’s work with the Task Force.

Fallin created the Task Force in April 2017 to begin the process of discovering if Oklahoma’s law enforcement agencies had a backlog of rape kits yet to be tested. Rape survivor and advocate Danielle Tudor has been vocal about the nationwide problem and lobbied for legislation to address the issue. She was named to the Task Force, but doesn’t act in a spokesperson capacity.

The final deadline, which had been moved back at least two times, for law enforcement agencies to report their findings to the Task Force was May 31, 2018.

The next day, Tudor claimed Hunter was less than responsive to the work the Task Force was performing and refused resources to help the effort.

“With a lack of compliance becoming an issue, A.G. Mike Hunter has refused any of his resources to enforce the audit.  He has refused to subpoena any information from any Law Enforcement Agency that has not responded by the deadlines given.  He has not threatened to withhold any funding from any of the Law Enforcement Agencies that have refused to comply with Governor Fallin’s directive. Furthermore, about two months ago, one Law Enforcement Agency representative approached me directly and said they had reached out to the Attorney General’s office on multiple occasions, but had received no response,” Tudor said in a press release on Friday.

“We fully sympathize with Ms. Tudor and her concerns. We appreciate her service, voice and expertise on the governor’s task force,” said Hunter.

“Additionally, we support the mission of the governor’s task force in collecting information regarding untested rape kits. The data gathering process that has been undertaken since last August has been vital and the members can now focus on the best policies and recommendations to ensure the best practices for law enforcement moving forward,” Hunter added.

Tudor feels Hunter is not using his power as Attorney General to get law enforcement agencies to comply.

“It’s not so much that he was asked and refused, he’s never offered the authority his office holds to enforce the audit.  Governor Fallin has stated that he holds the power to demand compliance to the audit,” Tudor told The McCarville Report.

The Attorney General’s Office believes it is fulfilling the its proper role with the Task Force.

“Ms. Tudor seems not to fully understand the role of the attorney general’s office on the task force, created by the governor’s executive order.

“This order requires that the governor or her designee acts as the chairperson. For several months after the order was issued, no meetings occurred and no one acted as chair. The governor then designated the chief of the victims’ services unit to be chair

“Although the victim’s services unit chief agreed to step up to chair the task force and act in an administrative function, my office has no other roles or responsibilities enforcing the compliance of the law enforcement agencies,” said Hunter.

However, Tudor wants more from Hunter.

“After several email inquiries to talk about the direction we’re headed with reform that went unanswered I quickly realized this task force will not have the benefit of his leadership.  Just Google: state attorney general’s involved in the rape kit backlog.  You will get an idea of just how important his role is.  I feel like his office is trying to downplay his role and the fact that the governor dropped this into their lap when they didn’t ask for it nor want the responsibility.  The AG’s office should have been the one to follow-up with law enforcement agencies when they didn’t meet the audit deadline.  But they delegated it to someone else.  The AG’s representative on the task force has never offered an opinion from their office on anything.  Their purpose has only been to mediate, moderate, delegate and facilitate the meetings-period.”

Tudor also claims a staff member told her that she must have interaction with the media approved by the AG’s Office and to not contact law enforcement agencies about the rape kits. She said she received the email from the Chief of the Victim Services Unit Melissa Blanton, who also serves as chair of the Task Force.

“Given her title I would have expected her to reach out and meet with me personally rather than send an email stating my contact with law enforcement was inappropriate along with talking to the media about the task force.  That’s how I started this task force that rolled into the governor’s task force– meeting and talking to stakeholders on the issue.  How is that now inappropriate?  The media is the only avenue I have to hold people accountable.  If the AG was so concerned about unifying the task force–he should have met with me back in September when I first reached out to him.  The only reason you wouldn’t is that you don’t want to be on the record that you support reform. Using the term ‘inappropriate’ was very cutting to me.  I consider what my rapist did to me inappropriate.  So to use those words to shame me into believing I had done something wrong was egregious on her part.  Her victim training should have told her that.  She should have known better.  Why not reach out to meet with me and talk?  But then that would put me at the AG’s office where I might see the AG himself!” said Tudor.

A spokesperson with the AG’s Office said Tudor was asked to inform the Office if she was inviting the media to Task Force meetings so they can make security arraignments.

Additionally, Tudor is disappointed in the AG’s Office for not applying for a Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to begin addressing the backlog of untested rape kits in Oklahoma.

“There are SAKI grants that help with several areas involved in rape kit reform.  AG’s can apply and help their law enforcement jurisdiction’s financially.  The deadline was April 30th and at that time we knew we were over 6,000+. When I asked if they had applied for the SAKI grant, Melissa Blanton said no and that they were still wanting to see the scope of the problem,” said Tudor.

The AG’s Office added it doesn’t control federal funds for local and county law enforcement agencies and couldn’t threaten to take them away.

“The governor’s task force has no subpoena power, no investigative authority and no ability to withhold federal funds from law enforcement agencies.

“Further, the attorney general’s office does not and never has had the authority to enforce executive orders from the governor’s office.

“My office remains dedicated to supporting victims of domestic violence and survivors of rape,” said Hunter.

The AG’s Office duties are outlined in Fallin’s executive order. It establishes the Victim Services Unit Chief to serve on the Task Force. The AG’s Office also receives the rape kit audits from the law enforcement agencies and compiles the information to assist the Task Force with its report. A copy of the executive order can be found here.

https://www.sos.ok.gov/documents/executive/1079.pdf

Tudor does say the Task Force is doing good work, and it will continue to address the backlog of rape kits in Oklahoma.

“The task force itself is fine.  We don’t see eye to eye on everything but we work through it.  The problem from my perspective is having an AG who hasn’t ever publicly supported our efforts.  He also has legislative pull with his position to offer opinions and direction.  My concern with not having all of the legislative representation as mandated by the EO (executive order, added for clarity) and the lack of AG leadership what we end up with will just remain recommendations with no legislative action or real change in how we process rape kits as crime scene evidence.  It’s important to note I was not speaking on behalf of the task force with the press release.  In fact, probably anyone else on the task could request a meeting with the AG and have no problem getting an appointment.  The purpose of the press release was more to highlight my fractured relationship with the AG’s office and their lack of respect to even answer my requests for a meeting,” Tudor said.

Hunter said his office will continue to support victims of sexual assault.

“We are proud to provide essential services to victims across the state. We work closely with state and federal groups to certify programs that help victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and human sex trafficking.

“We recently brought on Melissa Blanton to lead our victims services unit. Prior to this role and for more than 17 years, Melissa served victims through various capacities including as a prosecutor, as the director of a victims services agency and as a domestic violence resource prosecutor for the District Attorneys Council. Her ideas and wealth of knowledge have elevated the unit and we couldn’t be happier with the work she has done.

“From my extended conversations with Melissa and other members serving on the task force, the members are confident they are on track to complete its work by the July deadline,” said Hunter.

The next meeting for the Task Force is June 14^th and is open to the public.