CrimProf Blog

Preserving DNA Evidence to Prove the Potential Innocence of a Man Scheduled for Death Today

Today the Innocence Project of Florida (IPF) is filing a motion to preserve evidence in the case of Wayne Tompkins, who is scheduled to be executed at 6 PM EST by lethal injection. Tompkins was convicted of murdering Lisa DeCarr in 1983, though doubts persist as to the true identity of the victim. IPF believes a new round of DNA testing should be conducted in order to banish all doubt, and today's action represents the first step toward acquiring that testing.

"If the victim in this case wasn't Lisa DeCarr after all, that means Wayne Tompkins was convicted of a murder that never took place. It's pretty bizarre that the Governor is about to execute a person when these kinds of questions remain," said Seth Miller, Executive Director of the Innocence Project of Florida. Several individuals have signed affidavits claiming to have seen DeCarr alive since the alleged murder.

"The Governor should remember two other cases, Frank Lee Smith and Ricky McGuinn," said Miller. Frank Lee Smith died on death row in Florida before DNA testing proved he was innocent. In Ricky McGuinn's case, his Texas execution was stayed, then DNA testing proved his guilt, and his execution was reset. In both cases, DNA testing proved vital to the establishment of culpability.

IPF is moving a court to notify the appropriate institutions that they have a statutory obligation to preserve all evidence pertaining to Tompkins' case for 60 days, even if he should be executed. IPF wants a robe, a sash, and samples of the victim's bones to be preserved, with confidence that a new round of DNA testing, using methods that have not been used in this case, will likely yield the identity of the victim.

Miller added, "There are serious doubts left in this case, and we fully intend to get to the bottom of what really happened. Tompkins shouldn't be executed when such important questions as the identity of the victim remain. Some day soon, we will make sure the truth comes out." Read More. . .
[Bobbi Madonna]

U.S. to collect DNA samples of arrested immigrants

Beginning today, the U.S. government will collect DNA samples from people arrested and detained for suspected immigration violations, despite concerns that the move violates their privacy rights.

The new Justice Department policy also will expand DNA collection to people arrested on suspicion of committing federal crimes. Previously, the government only obtained DNA from people convicted of certain crimes.

The samples will be added to the national database and used to make identifications through comparisons with crime scene evidence, according to the Justice Department.

"The collection of DNA samples is an important crime-fighting and crime-solving tool," said Evan Peterson, a spokesman for the department.

The American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday that it was considering filing a lawsuit and that it would closely monitor the collection of DNA samples.

"We will be looking to see whether mistakes are made," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the ACLU's technology and liberty program.

Steinhardt said he had "grave concerns" about the rapid expansion of the DNA database to include immigrant detainees and people accused of committing crimes.

"People who are merely accused of a crime or a civil violation of law but haven't been convicted of anything are being subjected to the most invasive sort of testing," he said.

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) has said the change is designed to prevent violent crimes by deportees who return illegally. Kyl wrote a 2005 law that authorized the department to include pre-conviction DNA samples in its national database. [Mark Godsey]

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DNA Offers Two Hope

The DNA found on the electrical cord used to bind the hands of a shop owner slain 15 years ago doesn't belong to either of the two men convicted of killing him.

Fingerprints found on the door handle of the store's safe are not theirs, and the state's main witness now admits in a taped interview that she lied when she testified at their trial.

But Ronald Taylor and George Gould are still sitting in a Connecticut prison — serving 80 years for the July 4 murder of Eugenio Vega DeLeon in 1993.

The men are waiting for a Superior Court judge in Rockville to rule on their legal attempt for a new trial or for New Haven State's Attorney Michael Dearington's office to finish an investigation started two years ago, when questions about the case were first raised.

Taylor, 50, and Gould, 46, are hoping they become the latest Connecticut inmates freed by DNA evidence that proves they didn't commit the crime.

Two weeks ago, Taylor and Gould watched Miguel Roman, who was in the same cellblock at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, walk out of prison after DNA findings exonerated him after he had been convicted of a murder in Hartford. Roman and James C. Tillman, who was released in 2006 after serving 17 years following a rape conviction, won their freedom with the help of public defenders who target dubious convictions.

But Taylor and Gould have an unusual ally in their quest for a new trial. He's Gerald O'Donnell, a former Cheshire cop and state inspector who worked for Dearington before retiring to become a private investigator.

O'Donnell, hired by the public defender's office, spent more than three years reinvestigating DeLeon's murder, producing an 800-page binder complete with taped interviews of witnesses recanting their statements, newly uncovered DNA evidence and interviews with witnesses New Haven police never contacted during the original investigation. [Mark Godsey]

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Controversy surrounds DNA evidence in Yogurt Shop Murders

New DNA evidence and the possible addition of two pro bono defense attorneys added controversy to the Yogurt Shop Murders pretrial Wednesday.

Four young women were found murdered at a North Austin I Can't Believe its Yogurt shop in 1991.

But 17 years later, the suspects accused of killing Amy Ayers, Eliza Thomas and Jennifer and Sarah Harbison are still fighting their convictions.

Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen were back in court Wednesday as controversy swirls around some DNA evidence found on the victims.

More DNA results are giving the defense more argument that their clients are innocent.

"We have the wrong people, there are killers out still," Springsteen's attorney Alexandra Gauthier said.

An early report has found more DNA from three of the four female victims in the case.

The DNA found inside the girls is shown to come from multiple male sources, and none of them match defendants Springsteen and Scott.

"What we need to be doing now is looking for the owners of the DNA we found, of the profiles we've got" Scott's attorney Carlos Garcia said.

These DNA results are preliminary. The final report will go before the court at the next pretrial, at which time the defense will ask the judge to release the clients on bond. [Mark Godsey]

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Kansas Man Granted Hearing on DNA Tests

Merrill Andrews was convicted of murder in 1977 and sentenced to life in prison. Having been granted parole in 1999, Andrews is now requesting DNA tests in order to prove his innocence. Although he is currently serving a 10-year sentence for an unrelated crime, Andrews maintains his innocence in the 1977 murder of Nola Babb, a 91-year-old retired businesswoman in Wichita.

Andrews’ request for DNA testing was denied by a Sedgewick County judge, who thought Andrews was misusing a 2001 DNA state law that grants anybody convicted of rape or murder a hearing regarding any forensic evidence relevant to the case. But the Kansas Court of Appeals overruled that decision and ordered the lower court to hold a hearing on Andrews’ request. The hearing will take place later this month.

According to Deputy District Attorney Ann Swegle, the DNA testing law is rarely used in Sedgewick County, and there might be issues with evidence preservation:

"My understanding is that they keep it forever now," she said. "I'm not sure that's always been the case."

Carl Maughan, Andrews’ attorney, said his client has consistently maintained his innocence.

"Yes, he's already done his time, but if you were accused of murder and you were the wrong guy, I would assume you'd want to clear your name," Maughan said. "He just maintains that he's innocent on this charge and wants to get it cleared up."

Read the full story here. (Wichita Eagle, 1/4/09)

Read about previous exonerees in Kansas, Joe Jones and Eddie James Lowery.

Does your state have a law granting access to DNA testing? View our interactive map.

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Money for future Dallas DNA testing lost in Madoff scandal

Panic ensued at the Innocence Project of Texas when a powerful Wall Street investor was arrested this month and accused of swindling investors out of $50 billion.

One of the organizations that had invested with Bernard Madoff was the JEHT Foundation, which funds post-conviction DNA tests for Dallas County inmates who claim they are innocent. Without the funding, the Innocence Project would be faced with trying to raise capital in a bad economy and those seeking tests could face indefinite delays, if the testing could be done at all.

Panic ensued at the Innocence Project of Texas when a powerful Wall Street investor was arrested this month and accused of swindling investors out of $50 billion.

One of the organizations that had invested with Bernard Madoff was the JEHT Foundation, which funds post-conviction DNA tests for Dallas County inmates who claim they are innocent. Without the funding, the Innocence Project would be faced with trying to raise capital in a bad economy and those seeking tests could face indefinite delays, if the testing could be done at all. [Mark Godsey]

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Showdown over DNA lab reflects national debate

In June, Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas made a bold grab for a crown jewel of local law enforcement: the DNA unit of the sheriff's crime lab.

With the lab's director out of town and the sheriff recently deposed by corruption charges, Rackauckas submitted a brief agenda item to county supervisors two business days before their regular meeting.
"Our aim is to make significant changes in the way forensic DNA analysis is conducted," Rackauckas wrote. The D.A.'s office is "the only organization capable of harnessing the vast potential of forensic DNA technology."

The move capped a three-year tug of war for control of DNA analysis in a historically conservative county where putting criminals behind bars can bring substantial political rewards.

"I have never experienced anything like it in more than 30 years of law enforcement," recalled Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, who took over the department in the midst of the battle. "I couldn't get my brain around it, and no one I've spoken with could either."

To end the bickering, one member of the Board of Supervisors proposed putting the county's entire crime lab in the hands of an independent agency headed by a scientist. But, in the end, the board split control among the political players: the D.A., the sheriff and the county chief executive.

The power struggle in Orange County is a sign of an intensifying national debate over who should control forensic science -- a question that has taken on new importance with the explosion of genetic evidence. [Mark Godsey]

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DNA search fails to find relatives of unknown serial killer

The Los Angeles Police Department's hunt for an elusive serial killer who has stalked women in South L.A. for more than two decades was dealt a setback Tuesday when a controversial search of DNA databases for the killer's family members came up empty.

"We were hoping," said LAPD Deputy Chief Charlie Beck, who is overseeing a task force of detectives working to solve the case. "Police work is very much about exploring every avenue. We went down this one and it didn't turn out to be fruitful."

Pioneered in Britain, familial DNA searches are largely uncharted territory in the United States. The attempt to identify one of the serial killer's relatives was the first major use of California's new familial searching policy, the most far-reaching in the nation. Underscoring the importance of the case, state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown overcame serious constitutional and privacy concerns raised by advisors and cleared the way for the search.

In leading up to Tuesday's anticlimax, state officials had painstakingly created a list of possible relatives from the state database of felons' DNA profiles. They then eliminated potential matches through further genetic testing and by reviewing public records to determine ages, addresses and names of family members. In the end, there were no matches.

The possibility of a match had raised hopes among LAPD detectives that they would catch a break in a case that has stymied the department for years. The task force is now left to continue with ongoing efforts to revive leads from old cases, search for missed clues and hope someone with knowledge of the killer comes forward.

The serial killer has claimed 10 known victims, striking most recently last year. Except for one man, he has targeted young, black women, many of them prostitutes.

He sexually assaults the women and kills them by shooting or strangling them, often leaving their bodies in alleyways along Western Avenue. [Mark Godsey]

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Can swabbing for DNA go too far?

In the settlement around Cove Run Creek, nobody said no when police came asking for their DNA.

A dead baby, wrapped in a flannel shirt and plastic bag, then stuffed into a knapsack, had been abandoned in the woods in North Union, Fayette County, sometime in 2000. As police tell it, the dozen or so girls questioned were perfectly willing to allow a trooper to take a saliva swab from their mouths so a lab could trace the DNA.

"Usually if they have nothing to do with it they have no problem giving up the swab, the sample," explained James A. Pierce, the trooper who cracked the case earlier this month.

Sarah S. Hawk, a 25-year-old woman from the area, was found by that process of elimination. Her DNA was obtained by a search warrant after one of her sisters voluntarily gave a swab this spring.

When the lab identified the sister's DNA as belonging to a relative of the baby, police got search warrants so that they could get swabs from the other sisters. Miss Hawk's came back a match, and she later confessed.

Case closed?

Probably, say legal scholars. But the wider question about how much the government can gather -- and possibly retain -- in the course of solving a crime is far from settled.

"It's emblematic of the problem. We think science is going to be the solution to all our problems," said Tim Sparapani, senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

He worries that a growing reliance on DNA screens, and law enforcement's growing desire to bank such data, could undermine privacy and skew law enforcement.

"A lot would depend on how the samples were acquired," countered Akhil Reed Amar, a constitutional scholar at Yale Law School who recently published a series of provocative proposals for a nationwide DNA data bank, to be built from samples taken at birth.

The database, he argues, would be a wellspring of information from which innocent suspects could be cleared and the real malefactors determined, much the way fingerprints now provide lock-sure evidence against real culprits, a sort of safeguard against wrongful prosecution. [Mark Godsey]

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Tracing a crime suspect through a relative

Over nearly two decades, a serial killer has shot and strangled at least 11 people, often dumping their battered bodies in alleyways of Inglewood and Los Angeles.

Most were black women or girls, the youngest just 14. The latest was found last year, shrouded in a garbage bag.

Police have determined through DNA and other evidence that the killings were the work of a single person. But the DNA does not match any of the millions of genetic profiles of convicted criminals in law enforcement databases, and detectives have few other clues.

Now Los Angeles Police Department investigators want to search the state's DNA database again -- not for exact matches but for any profiles similar enough to belong to a parent or sibling.

The hope is that one of those family members might lead detectives to the killer.

This strategy, pioneered in Britain, is poised to become an important crime-fighting tool in the United States. The Los Angeles case will mark the first major use of California's newly approved familial searching policy, the most far-reaching in the nation.

But the idea of scrutinizing families based exclusively on their possible genetic relationship to an unknown suspect makes privacy advocates and legal experts nervous. They argue that it effectively expands criminal databases to include every offender's relatives, a potentially unconstitutional intrusion.

"There is kind of a queasiness about having the sins of your father come back to haunt you," said Stanford University law professor Hank Greely, who supports familial searching despite those concerns. "It feels like we're holding people responsible for the crimes of their family."

Because the technology isn't perfect, families with no connection to the perpetrator inevitably will be investigated, some scientists and legal experts say.

The FBI and California law enforcement officials long resisted the approach, fearful of inciting legal opposition and a public backlash. They yielded only after aggressive lobbying by prosecutors, who pointed to some dramatic successes. [Mark Godsey]

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Charlotte's DNA backlog slows effort to solve crimes

Evidence with the potential to solve or provide leads on hundreds of burglary and robbery cases awaits DNA testing as Charlotte-Mecklenburg police grapple with a backlog.

Testing is still a top priority for murder, rape and habitual offender cases. And police do have a plan to clear the backlog, but it may take until late next year.

Charlotte police blame a staffing shortage for the problem.

Crime scene evidence in 138 robbery and 443 burglary investigations was awaiting DNA analysis as of Oct. 10, the latest police data available.

Last year, DNA testing led investigators to suspects or new leads in 58 percent of burglary cases and in 18 percent of the robberies that had biological evidence.

In late 2006, two of the four DNA analysts left for personal reasons and the department began an immediate search. But a shortage of analysts around the country slowed the hiring. At a minimum, it takes three to four months to train a new DNA analyst, but the process can stretch up to a year, depending on experience.

Around the time the analysts left, residential burglaries increased and robberies occurred in traditionally low-crime neighborhoods.

Police Deputy Chief Kerr Putney, speaking on the DNA issue, said the lab is in transition: By next year the staff of analysts should grow to six, and the 12-month backlog should start clearing.

Charlotte City Councilman Edwin Peacock III, who serves on the public safety committee, said the backlog is “very problematic” because prompt testing would help solve the crimes, but also help capture some violent criminals in the process.

That's because some property crime offenders also have committed violent crimes, he said. “We have people who are the rapists and murderers who are in that pile (of untested evidence),” said Peacock, who campaigned last year on using innovative approaches to battle crime. [Mark Godsey]

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An upcoming local Michigan talk "Bad to the Bone: Horrors!--Can Our Genes Help Make Us Act Badly?"

Talk located at at Schuler Books, 2820 Towne Centre Blvd Lansing, MI 48912, Tuesday, November 18, 7:30 PM.  More information about the bok the lecture is based on is below. 

Praise for the tongue-in-cheek titled, best-selling, meticulously researched book the lecture is based on: Evil Genes: Why Rome Fell, Hitler Rose, Enron Failed, and My Sister Stole My Mother's Boyfriend, by Barbara Oakley, Prometheus Books, October, 2007.

"A fascinating scientific and personal exploration of the roots of evil, filled with human insight and telling detail."
-Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor, Harvard University, and author of The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, and The Stuff of Thought

"A highly-readable, entertaining, ground-breaking, must-read study with notable insights on the rise and fall of empires; but more importantly, it offers, perhaps for the first time, a distinctly plausible mechanism for explaining the origin and persistence of social inequality."
-Glenn Storey, President, Archeological Institute of America, Iowa Society, Associate Professor of Classics and Anthropology, University of Iowa, and author of Urbanism in the Preindustrial World: Cross-Cultural Approaches

"Remarkable -- and difficult to put down ... a wonderfully readable tapestry of family autobiography, historical biography, and biological psychology. Without oversimplifying their psychosocial complexity, Evil Genes explores new research on the genetics and neurobiology of personality disorders. Shining this light on some of the most problematic figures of our era, it challenges our assumptions about the roots of terrorism, genocide, crime, corruption--and even the sinister sides of politics, business, and religion."
-Terrence W Deacon, Professor of Biological Anthropology and Neuroscience, University of California, Berkeley, and author of The Symbolic Species

"Einstein once said that all important new science would be found at the interstices of existing disciplines; if you need proof of that, this book is it. Starting with a background in the military, linguistics and electrical engineering, Oakley deftly moves through psychology, functional brain imagery and molecular biology to weave a compelling and provocative case for a genetic base for evil. 'Scientific non-fiction' and 'page turner' aren't two phrases I'd expect in the same sentence, but for the remarkable Evil Genes, they fit."
-William A. Wulf, President Emeritus, National Academy of Engineering. [Barbara Oakley, Ph.D., P.E] [Mark Godsey]

Related Talk  Available on Book TV at http://www.booktv.org/program.aspx?ProgramId=9618&SectionName=&PlayMedia=Yes.)

Editorial: DNA Testing Beyond a shadow of a doubt

It's hard to believe that someone would plead guilty to a crime he didn't commit.

But it happens, more often than anyone likes to admit.

More than 200 people have been exonerated in recent years thanks to advances in DNA testing. In about 25 percent of those cases, the wrongfully convicted person either pleaded guilty, confessed to the crime, or made self-incriminating statements.

A variety of factors can contribute to an innocent person's confessing to a crime he didn't commit, including coercion, duress, fear of violence, limited mental capacity, ignorance of the law, actual harm, and the threat of a long sentence or the death penalty if you don't cooperate.

Such a case is now before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, involving a Philadelphia man convicted of a brutal rape and murder in 1993. He alleges he was pressured by police to confess to the crimes.

Anthony Wright contends he didn't rape and murder a 77-year-old woman in her Nicetown home, and he has requested DNA testing of the evidence. But Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham has opposed the DNA test, arguing that there is no need because Wright confessed.

Wright's attorneys filed an appeal last month to the state Supreme Court, which has yet to rule.

The best and only way to resolve the dispute is to proceed with the DNA test.

Isn't the goal justice?

Wright may very well be guilty. But Abraham's refusal to conduct the DNA test only raises suspicion and undercuts the D.A.'s argument that the right person is behind bars.

Wright was convicted in 1993 of rape, murder and burglary of Louise Talley, a widow who lived near him. Wright was sentenced to life in prison for the crimes, which occurred in September 1991, when he was 20 years old.

Wright's conviction was based largely on his signed confession and the testimony of two witnesses - one of whom police initially considered a suspect. [Mark Godsey]

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L.A. County sheriff's officials acknowledge that genetic evidence in 5,635 rape cases may be untested

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, under pressure from county supervisors and watchdog groups to account for its handling of DNA evidence from sexual assault cases, acknowledged Wednesday it did not know whether genetic evidence from more than 5,600 rape cases had been examined.

In response to an inquiry by the Board of Supervisors last month, Sheriff's Department officials tallied 5,635 sexual assault evidence kits -- semen and other DNA samples collected by authorities from victims -- sitting in freezer storage facilities, Cmdr. Earl Shields said. The department must now manually compare that inventory with records from its crime laboratory to determine which kits remain unexamined, Shields told the board Wednesday.

"The bad news is we have 5,635 kits in a warehouse," Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said. "The good news is we now know what has to be done."

The true size of the county's DNA backlog is probably significantly larger, said Sarah Tofte, a researcher with Human Rights Watch who has been pressing local law enforcement agencies around the country to address backlogs. The total announced Wednesday does not take into account the unknown number of sex crime kits that are in the hands of the more than 40 small police agencies in the Los Angeles area that rely on the sheriff's crime lab for analysis, she said.

Under a new policy ordered by Sheriff Lee Baca, all sexual assault kits gathered in the future will be tested -- a departure from a long-running practice in which the sheriff's crime lab analyzed evidence only after detectives handling a case requested it. Shields also said the department would analyze evidence from all kits currently in storage that are found to be untested, although he warned that such an effort would require additional funds to hire more analysts as well as outsourcing testing to private labs.
"The bad news is we have 5,635 kits in a warehouse," Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said. "The good news is we now know what has to be done."

The true size of the county's DNA backlog is probably significantly larger, said Sarah Tofte, a researcher with Human Rights Watch who has been pressing local law enforcement agencies around the country to address backlogs. The total announced Wednesday does not take into account the unknown number of sex crime kits that are in the hands of the more than 40 small police agencies in the Los Angeles area that rely on the sheriff's crime lab for analysis, she said.

Under a new policy ordered by Sheriff Lee Baca, all sexual assault kits gathered in the future will be tested -- a departure from a long-running practice in which the sheriff's crime lab analyzed evidence only after detectives handling a case requested it. Shields also said the department would analyze evidence from all kits currently in storage that are found to be untested, although he warned that such an effort would require additional funds to hire more analysts as well as outsourcing testing to private labs. [Mark Godsey]

Continue Reading "L.A. County sheriff's officials acknowledge that genetic evidence in 5,635 rape cases may be untested"

NYPD Starts Collecting DNA from ... the Police

The NYPD has started taking DNA samples from CSI detectives to look for cross-contamination at crime scenes, sources said last night.

Police brass have been pushing for the samples for at least three years. The need was highlighted when a cop's blood turned up, unexplained, on a sink of the blood-soaked apartment of "Realtor to the Stars" Linda Stein.

A crime scene cop had washed his hands in the sink, leaving a near-invisible drop of blood. Accused killer Natavia Lowery's lawyers claimed the DNA belonged to "the real killer" - until the mystery was solved.

The first 11 crime scene detectives provided DNA samples yesterday under a deal negotiated with the detectives union. Lawyers for the Detectives' Endowment Association hammered out language to protect the samples from being accessed for other reasons without a subpoena, sources said.

Some rank-and-file detectives were not so sure.

"Big Brother is here," said one investigator. "To get a DNA sample from anyone else requires a search warrant. They decided the Constitution doesn't apply to cops."

Read full article here. [Brooks Holland]

L.A. announces plan to reduce backlog of unexamined DNA evidence from violent crimes

Top city officials Tuesday unveiled a plan to help the Los Angeles Police Department's crime lab reduce its massive backlog of unexamined DNA evidence from violent crimes, but they acknowledged that the funding for the proposal was less than certain.

Under the terms of the plan, which the City Council is expected to vote on today, the LAPD would allocate $700,000 to hire 16 more DNA analysts and support staff -- a boost of about 33% over current staffing. The city would also increase by $250,000 the funds earmarked to pay private laboratories that the LAPD hires to help with the daunting workload.

Our fundamental duty as elected officials is to ensure the safety and well-being of each of our residents," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a late afternoon news conference attended by Police Chief William J. Bratton and City Council members. "When crimes are committed, particularly the heinous crimes of rape -- we have a solemn obligation to seek justice."

Despite the rhetoric, however, the proposal is not a panacea and does not guarantee that the LAPD will have the funds it needs to process the entire backlog of roughly 7,000 cases, authorities acknowledged. Even if approved, the plan would still fall about $900,000 short of what is needed to keep pace with new crimes and meet the LAPD's goal of clearing about 2,500 of the older cases this year. Also, at least $4.2 million in additional funds would be needed in coming years to fill 20 more analyst positions and continue the contracts with outside labs. LAPD and city officials expressed hope that the shortfall could be made up from private donations and increased federal funding. [Mark Godsey]

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Progress Is Minimal in Clearing DNA Cases

LOS ANGELES — Local and state law enforcement agencies have made uneven progress in reducing a nationwide backlog of cases awaiting DNA analysis over the past four years, according to reports filed by more than 100 agencies with the National Institute of Justice.

The patchy results came despite stepped-up efforts by the federal government, including nearly $500 million in grants since 2004, to help crime laboratories reduce the backlog.

Victims’ rights groups and some law enforcement officials say the untested evidence, much of it stemming from sexual assault crimes, leaves open the possibility that thousands of criminal offenders have gone unpunished or are on the loose and committing new crimes.

“That’s always a concern,” said Sharon Papa, an assistant chief in the Los Angeles Police Department, “because, unfortunately, oftentimes rape is a serial crime.”

The problem seems most severe here in Los Angeles, where the Police Department has the largest known backlog, about 7,000 cases, including many with rape kits from sexual assaults.

The backlog comprises a mix of open cases and solved cases awaiting analysis and entry of DNA into state and national databases. [Mark Godsey]

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Controversial DNA plan uncertain

Immigrant advocacy organizations are decrying a proposal by the Bush administration to collect DNA samples from federal detainees, including illegal immigrants.

Under the plan, the DNA samples would be added to the FBI's national database, which contains the genetic codes of millions of felons, the Houston Chronicle reported Sunday.

"It's such an incredible shift to go from collecting DNA from people in the criminal system to imposing it on people who have no connection to a criminal offense -- immigrants in the civil immigration system," said Joan Friedland, immigration policy director with the National Immigration Law Center.

Congress authorized the plan in an amendment to the 2005 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. It was signed into law in January 2006.

Although the Dec. 31 program start date is approaching, the final rule on the DNA collection has yet to be published in the Federal Register, and funding for the program is in question. [Mark Godsey]

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Justice system discourages DNA testing

Recently, The Dispatch reported the story of Robert McClendon, an inmate freed after spending 18 years
in prison for a crime he didn't commit ("Ex-prisoner now officially innocent," Aug. 27).

He was exonerated after DNA testing showed that he wasn't the assailant in the rape for which he was convicted.
This story also brought to light that

Ohio

has no law requiring that DNA evidence be retained or preserved. This has prompted a call for the legislature to rectify this shortcoming in the law.

Even if

Ohio

passes a law requiring DNA to be preserved, so what? When an inmate makes a motion requesting a DNA test, prosecutors fight it tooth and nail and judges dismiss these motions on technicalities.

The Dispatch disclosed that out of the hundreds of requests from inmates, only a paltry few are ever granted. Other requests are simply ignored.
McClendon filed his motion for DNA testing in 2004. It wasn't until the Innocence Project got involved that his DNA was finally tested. The reason for the delay? According to the judge, "Sometimes things fall through the cracks." That's the reason a man spent an additional four years in prison?
 
When the opportunity presents itself, the justice system should do everything it can to determine whether an innocent man is behind bars. Instead, it does just the opposite, because each time an innocent man is released from prison, it's a black eye for the justice system that so eagerly convicted him.

ROY C. POMPA

Southern Ohio

Correctional Facility
Lucasville

Geoff Dutton Reporter The

Columbus

Dispatch

[Mark Godsey]

Groups protest DNA collection law

The Legislative Black Caucus and civil rights activists criticized yesterday Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan for implementing a new program for collecting DNA samples from crime suspects, accusing the administration of turning its back on hard-fought compromises for safeguards and oversight.

O'Malley made the DNA bill one of his priorities this year and worked hard to win passage of the legislation in the Maryland General Assembly - but only after significant changes during lengthy negotiations, particularly with the Black Caucus. The law calls for DNA samples to be taken from those charged with violent crimes and burglary; previously, samples were taken only after a conviction.

The Maryland State Police issued the proposed regulations to implement the law last month. But concerns from lawmakers have prompted the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review to put a hold on the regulations. The committee doesn't have the authority to overturn the regulations, but it often seeks tweaks during the promulgation of rules.

Leading black lawmakers, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the state public defender's office say the proposed regulations don't ensure that DNA samples are taken only when someone has been charged with a crime, rather than at the time of arrest as would have been the case under language originally proposed by O'Malley. They also say the regulations don't adequately address access to DNA samples or procedures for expungement, which would be required when someone isn't convicted. [Mark Godsey]

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