The Maricopa County Attorney defended her office's decision Wednesday to drop the charges against a man accused of multiple rapes.
James Estep has been accused of rape, or assault by five different women. Some cases allegedly happened within weeks this year.
Estep though, is not in jail right now because prosecutors sent the case back to Mesa police for further investigation.
Police officers and a former prosecutor, familiar with the police reports, told ABC15 they believe there is enough evidence to move forward with charges.
They questioned why prosecutors are waiting since they already have DNA evidence collected from multiple victims and incredibly similar allegations of sexual assault.
County Attorney Rachel Mitchell pushed back on the outside criticism that her office should be moving forward.
"I spent 25 years of my career doing these cases and I believe additional work needs to be done," said Mitchell.
"The DNA in some cases is not as conclusive as it seems to be," she added. "We are hurrying to make sure that we shore things up, but we have to get this right. If we get it wrong, we cannot go back and re-try this case."
Some neighbors ABC15 spoke with were concerned about public safety if Estep was released again. Mitchell said that is not something she takes lightly.
"Of course, I’m concerned. I care very much about these cases. But it does me no good to file a case prematurely and then not be able to make that case," Mitchell said. "That doesn’t protect anybody."
“This is ridiculous. This person in this situation has created a clear and present danger for the people in Maricopa County and Arizona,” said former prosecutor and defense attorney Josh Kolsrud.
Kolsrud spent several years as a prosecutor in the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and said he can’t understand why prosecutors let Estep walk twice.
“In two of those cases, there’s DNA that leads directly back to the suspect and they didn’t bring charges,” he said.
Court records show Mesa investigators believe there are as many as five victims. The first incident happened in May of 2021 and four other potential victims were assaulted this year.
The documents detail how one of the victims was able to escape on June 28, four days before Estep’s accused of raping another woman at his home in Mesa after meeting her at a Tempe bar.
One of the alleged victims described being choked, one even hit, after reportedly accepting rides from Estep.
“There is no reason to believe that he’s not going to stop doing this and every reason to believe that he will,” said Kolsrud.
