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SATI e-News:
January 27, 2003
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DNA News From Around the Country |
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States Test Limits for DNA Testing |
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European law enforcement officials
have already enjoyed nearly limitless access in requesting
suspects to submit to DNA testing. Suspects there have been
defined as broadly as men residing in a geographic location near
the crime scene, in one case testing as many as 16,400 men before
catching the perpetrator. U.S. law enforcement has been more
cautious. But some states are testing the limits. |
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Louisiana
Louisiana police recently cast a dragnet in the southern part of
the state, testing 800 men in search of a serial killer whose DNA
has been linked to the murders of three women. Shannon F. Kohler,
one of 15 men who balked when approached for a mouth swab, told
the Washington Post that police took a heavy hand, saying
that if he refused, they would get a court order, which could get
picked up in the media.
Kohler believed that other evidence, such as the size of the
prints left by the killer and his own phone bills that show he was
at home when the murders took place, should have cleared him from
the suspect list. Kohler was in fact approached by the media when
his name showed up in public court documents. A later DNA test
cleared Mr. Kohler, who is planning a civil suit. The killer did
not turn up among those tested and is still at large.
Meanwhile, Louisiana has yet to allocate any money at all to fund
post-conviction DNA testing for indigent prisoners, according to
The Advocate. The fund was established in 2001 by a state
law, which expires in 2005. State Senator Art Lentini, a
Republican and one of the bill's sponsor, told The Advocate
he estimates it would cost the state approximately $250,000 ($900
to $1,500 each) to provide testing to those who meet the narrow
legal requirements.
Sources:
"Police Dragnets for DNA Tests Draw Criticism," Washington Post,
January 4, 2003.
"Despite Law, DNA Test Fund Empty," The Advocate, December
13, 2002.
"BR Killer Strikes in Lafayette," The Advocate, December
24, 2002. |
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Virginia Collects DNA Profiles After Felony Arrests
At the beginning of this year, Virginia started collecting DNA
samples from anyone charged with a violent felony.
An instructional video developed by Virginia's division of
forensic science has been distributed to sheriff's departments
across the state, along with an instructional video, so the mouth
swabs can be collected upon booking.
The DNA profiles are then added to the state's database, and
compared against other DNA samples to identify previous criminal
history. Other states wait until conviction to input the profiles,
with the exception of Texas, which does so upon indictment on sex
offenses, according to the Washington Post.
The practice in Virginia is the result of a law passed last year
by the state legislature. The Virginia law provides that arrestee
DNA data is later expunged and the sample destroyed if the person
is acquitted or if the charge is dismissed by a judge, according
to the Post. The law places the responsibility on the court
clerk in each jurisdiction to inform the state's forensic division
of the outcome of cases, for final disposition. Only DNA from
convicted criminals makes it to the National DNA Database, known
as CODIS.
The Virginia law is almost certain to face legal challenges.
Critics have already voiced concerns that DNA profiles could
remain in the system despite the lack of a conviction--for
instance, cases where the prosecutor decides not to pursue a
charge.
A New York City city-wide database of crime scene and suspect DNA
maintained by the medical examiner's (ME) office came under
challenge last November. A defendant in a Brooklyn rape case who
was compelled to give a DNA blood sample won a court order barring
the ME from placing it in the citywide DNA database, according to
the Post. The State Supreme Court went so far as to
speculate whether the mere existence of the database constitutes a
felony, also according to the Post. The basis for the
Supreme Court ruling was a 1994 New York state law preventing DNA
test results from being disclosed without the subject's consent.
The medical examiner's office is appealing the ruling.
Sources:
"VA. to Begin Taking DNA After Arrests For Felonies; Prosecutors,
Rights Activists Split on Database Expansion, " Washington
Post, January 1, 2003. |
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Forensic
DNA News From Around the Country |
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Two States Review Former Montana
Lab Director's Cases
Authorities in Montana and Washington are reviewing the work of
forensic scientist Arnold Melnikoff in dozens of cases, after FBI
tests proved the scientist had misidentified the hair samples,
which helped convict a man of raping an 8 year old girl 15 years
ago, according to the New York Times. Jimmy Ray Bromgard
was 18 years old when he was convicted in 1987, and was released
from prison in October of last year at age 33.
The six year-old victim ID was weak. According to county Attorney
Dennis Paxinos, in an interview with the Times, "When we
went through the trial in 1987, there was no evidence in the case
that would have convicted Jimmy. Then they came forward with the
hair."
According to the Times, Melnikoff then testified that the
chances that either set of hairs found at the scene were not those
of Mr. Bromgard were 1 in 100. Since head and pubic hairs look
different, "it's a multiplying effect, it would be 1 chance in
10,000." Melnikoff offered similar testimony in the case of
another Montana inmate, Chester Bauer, which is also being
challenged by Innocence Project attorneys. In a letter to
Montana's attorney general, Bromgard's attorneys said they
believed "Melnikoff simply made up those statistics."
The FBI's trace evidence, as reported in the Times,
concluded that both the head and pubic hair samples were
"microscopically dissimilar" to samples provided by Mr. Bromgard
at the time, and added that the head hair sample was similar to
that of the victim.
Melnikoff was the director of Montana's state crime laboratory for
almost two decades, and has been employed by the Washington State
Police for the past 13 years. According to the Times,
Melnikoff testified in the Bromgard trial that he had done more
than 700 analyses of head hair in criminal cases.
Barry Logan, director of Washington's Forensic Laboratory Services
Bureau, told the Seattle Post Intelligencer that
Melnikoff began a hair proficiency course in 1991 in Washington
state, but did not successfully complete it.
Melnikoff's attorney, Rocky Trepiedi, told the Seattle P-I
that Melnikoff has never taken a hair proficiency test in
Washington state, nor has he done any hair testing in the state.
Sources:
"State Forensic Scientist Says Criticism is Unfair," Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, January 4, 2003.
"Two States to Review Lab Work of Expert Who Erred on ID," New
York Times, December 19, 2002.
"Lab Worker's Cases Reviewed After Montana Testimony Questioned,"
The Associated Press State & Local Wire, December 17, 2002.
"Reopened rape case dogs crime lab worker," Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, October 11, 2002.
"DNA Will Let a Montana Man Put Prison Behind Him, But Questions
Linger," New York Times, October 1, 2002. |
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The following news summaries in this
section are reprinted with permission from the DNA Legislation
& News, published by Smith Alling Lane, a government affairs
firm that provides nationwide governmental affairs services to
Applied Biosystems:
http://www.dnaresource.com. (Note: Headlines added.) |
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Judge Admits DNA Evidence Linking
Accused Serial Rapist, Erroneously Obtained; Suspect is First Case
to Test John Doe Warrants
In California, a judge has
ruled that prosecutors may use DNA from a suspected serial rapist
at trial even though the evidence was wrongly obtained and entered
into a state-run criminal database. The decision, upholding key
evidence linking the defendant to a series of 1994 rapes, is
believed to be the nation's first case in which a trial judge
allowed a case to proceed based on erroneously obtained DNA
evidence. Prosecutors conceded that the defendant's profile was
wrongly entered into the databank for his previous convictions of
being in possession of stolen property and assault, which was not
a qualifying offense in California. But authorities say it was a
good faith mistake. Last year, the California Supreme Court
declined to dismiss the charges against the [same] defendant,
[Paul Robinson], who was the nation's first suspect arrested under
[a John Doe warrant.]
Original source: "Judge
Admits DNA Evidence Linking accused Serial Rapist," The
Associated Press State & Local Wire, December 11, 2002. |
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Inmate, Raped by Corrections
Officer, Collects DNA Evidence
In Texas, the ACLU filed a lawsuit over a prisoner rape charging
that a corrections officer who repeatedly raped a 22-year-old man
was not punished until after the prisoner provided DNA evidence of
the assaults. After the first attack in October, 2001, the inmate
secretly collected the guard's semen on a handkerchief and mailed
it to the United States Attorney's Office in Houston. A Texas
prison prosecutor confirmed that testing conducted on the sample
linked the accused officer to the assaults.
Original source: "ACLU
Suit: Inmate Collected DNA From CO Who Raped Him," Corrections
Professional, December 16, 2002. |
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Oklahoma's
Statute of Limitations Law Withstands First Test
An Oklahoma law enacted in 2002 removed the statute of limitations
for sex crimes under certain conditions, such as introduction of
new DNA evidence. That new law recently withstood the first of
what will likely be multiple tests in court.
Original source:
"Statutes of Limitations Get Look," Tulsa World, December
22, 2002. |
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Washington State Opens New,
High-Tech Crime Lab
In Washington state, leaders say a new $13 million crime
laboratory will lead to much quicker processing of forensic
evidence in rape and homicide investigations. Located in south
Seattle, the new lab has six examination rooms, 3,000 square feet
of evidence storage, room for 56 scientists and a $22 million
annual budget. It will be used to handle DNA typing, chemical
analysis, ballistic testing of firearms, trace evidence
examinations and other tests.
Original Source: "New,
high tech state crime lab opened," The Associated Press State &
Local Wire, December 12, 2002. |
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