Report: Dozens of suspected killers, rapists in Detroit released due to warrant backlog

Among the unsigned warrants at the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office are 21 for murder, including one going back to 2010, according to a report in the Detroit News. The newspaper says there are 105 for sexual assault and 126 for child abuse.

In most cases, police were forced to release the suspects, since the law requires that they can’t be held beyond 72 hours without being arraigned.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says many of the releases are a result of too few employees in her office. She says the office has “lost half of our staff and it is no surprise that we are not able to fulfill our mandated functions with such drastic staff reductions.”