For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, March 28, 2023
Contact: Nazneen Ahmed
919-716-0060
(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein today released the following statement after a Fayetteville man pleaded guilty to a 1992 sexual assault and was sentenced to 40 years in jail.
“The justice delivered this week has been 31 years in the making. I want to thank Fayetteville law enforcement, Cumberland County District Attorney Billy West and his office, and the scientists at the State Crime Lab for bringing every ounce of their expertise and commitment to put this dangerous rapist behind bars.
“But above all, I want to recognize Ms. Linda, who survived that brutal assault in 1992 and then dedicated her life to fighting for other survivors. In the decades since, she has advocated for funding to help clear the backlog of untested kits in local law enforcement custody and helped North Carolina pass the Survivor Act to ensure that no such backlog ever happens again. She also advocated for improvements to North Carolina’s DNA collection laws so that we can stop serial rapists before they hurt more women. She fought tirelessly for others, even as she waited more than three decades for justice in her own case. North Carolinians across the state are safer because of her.
“This case is a reminder that no matter how long it takes, we must put the full force of science and the law behind getting offenders off our streets and getting justice for victims and survivors of sexual assault. We will never give up on their cases.”
In 2006, the Fayetteville Police Department resubmitted the sexual assault kit in this case to the North Carolina State Crime Lab to undergo more advanced DNA testing. The State Crime Lab identified a DNA sample that was uploaded to the CODIS DNA database. In November 2020, the Fayetteville Police Department’s Cold Case Unit announced that they had arrested Roy Junior Proctor in connection with the 1992 rape. He was convicted Monday. Ms. Linda was awarded an Attorney General’s Dogwood Award by Attorney General Stein in 2021 in recognition of her advocacy.
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