Nine advocacy groups have concerns that the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office is failing to prosecute sexual assault crimes in cases where the alleged assailant and victim had a previous relationship.

The groups, which include Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, the Women’s Law Project and the Greater Pittsburgh Women’s Center & Shelter, sent a letter on Thursday to incumbent District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. and his Democratic challenger, Matt Dugan, asking that they meet with them to discuss current practices in the office.

“We are hopeful that you share our belief that charging decisions should be rooted in recognized best practices and should focus on justice, victim safety and offender accountability,” they wrote. “We would welcome a meeting to discuss how the DA’s office can ensure it is charging and prosecuting sexual assault cases in a manner that aligns with these goals.”

The letter, obtained by the Tribune-Review, came just 12 days before the general election.

Nicole Molinaro, the president and CEO of the Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, said on Monday that the letters were meant to be private communications. She would not answer specific questions about them.

“We look forward to working with the district attorney’s office on these issues,” she said. “We have always found the district attorney’s office to be responsive to victims’ needs, and we believe we can talk with them.”

The other signatories includes FISA Foundation, YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh, Chatham University Women’s Institute, Black Women’s Policy Center, Alliance for Police Accountability and National Council of Jewish Women Pittsburgh.

Dugan said on Monday he has already responded to the letter agreeing to meet with each organization.

Zappala didn’t respond to questions about the letter.

The letter opens with the groups identifying themselves as service providers, advocates and community leaders who work with and on behalf of survivors of sexual assault.

“Through our representation of individual survivors and our collaborative efforts with other advocacy and community-based organizations, it has come to our attention that the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office has a practice of regularly declining to pursue charges in cases of sexual assault where the assailant and the victim had a prior relationship,” it said. “(Assistant district attorneys) in the district attorney’s office and the police officers with whom they work have told our clients that their ‘hands are tied’ when it comes to bringing assault charges in such cases, even when there is physical evidence and the survivor and the police both express an interest in charges being filed.”

The letter goes on to say that the groups understand that the practice is based on the DA’s office assessment that juries will not believe the alleged victims, particularly in cases where they previously had a relationship with their assailant.

“As we are sure you are aware, biases of this sort are rooted in public misperceptions about sexual violence and normal responses to trauma, as well as gender-based stereotypes,” the letter said. “Making prosecutorial decisions based on such assumptions raises serious ethical questions and maintaining a practice or custom that treats prosecutions involving intimate partner violence less favorably or holding such cases to a higher level of scrutiny may violate survivors’ constitutional rights.”

The letter goes on to say that any such practice is detrimental to public safety, undermines the DA’s office mission and further “harms and stigmatizes survivors of sexual assault.”

Fair and thorough criminal prosecutions, it continues, should be applied equally to all survivors of sexual assault.

Dugan, the former chief public defender in Allegheny County, said he has already met with some of the groups but agreed to talk to all of them that signed the letter.

“We’ve been talking about expanding victims’ rights from the beginning,” he said.

Among the concerns he’s heard from victims, Dugan said, is that when there is a decision not to prosecute an assailant, the decision is communicated through their victim advocate and not the prosecutor or police officer involved in the case.

As part of this year’s race, Zappala has painted himself as an advocate for victims, touting his work in creating a domestic violence unit in his office, helping to create a domestic violence specialty court and working to support crime victims’ rights in Harrisburg.

In a commercial released by his campaign earlier this month, he accused Dugan of telling rape victims to “shut up.” The ad refers to a brief filed in the Bill Cosby case by an attorney in the public defender’s office on behalf of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

“Steve Zappala’s campaign ads have been false and misleading,” Dugan said.

He said he could not comment on the timing of the letter.

“Steve Zappala has been under serving and silencing victims of intimate partner violence and sexual assault and consistently failed to keep women safe,” Dugan said.

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