State lawmakers are considering a measure that would require DNA collection from those arrested on suspicion of a felony.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to take up Senate Bill 241, which is urged by Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey and other law enforcement officials, today.
Currently, the state requires DNA collection upon conviction of a felony. Morrissey is hoping the state will join 16 others and expand the taking of DNA samples to those arrested on a felony.
He said that if people arrested on a felony end up not being convicted, they could seek to have their DNA sample expunged.
“This exonerates innocent people,” Morrissey said. “It saves an incredible amount of money and prevents rapes, murders and burglaries.”
Cathryn Hazouri, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, said her organization is opposed to the legislation.
“It puts into a database the DNA of people who have not been convicted of anything, and these people are then subjected to constant genetic surveillance,” she said.
She added that the measure also “puts the onus on the person arrested, but not convicted, to have the sample and the marker removed, and it’s inappropriate to put that type of burden on someone not convicted of anything.”
Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, the former police chief of Fountain and the Senate sponsor, is not sure yet how to pay for the additional collections mandated in the bill.
It has a $1.7 million fiscal note, a bill-killer when the state’s financial crunch is so severe.
Morrissey and others in law enforcement have suggested the program could be paid for with a $7 to $9 fee charged to those convicted of traffic offenses, misdemeanors and felonies.
Morse said he isn’t committed to the idea.
The House sponsor, Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, said he’s open to discussion.
“This is important enough that I’d go outside my usually adverse reaction to fees,” he said. “This bill will save lives and reduce violent crimes.”
Morrissey said the legislation would have allowed law enforcement to stop Jacques Richardson, who was convicted in Denver of first-degree murder and burglary in March 2000 of the killing of Capitol Hill resident Janey Benedict.
Richardson was convicted of raping two other Capitol Hill women in 1997. He also had been arrested for felony menacing and received a deferred judgement for that arrest. Morrissey said if a DNA sample had been taken when Richardson was arrested on the menacing charge, law enforcement could have caught him when he committed the first 1997 rape.
The committee will hear testimony from Jayann Sepich, the mother of 23-year-old Katie Sepich, who was raped and murdered in New Mexico in August 2003. Authorities caught her killer in 2006 using DNA technology. Since then, her parents have worked to persuade other states to pass what they term “Katie’s Law,” which requires the taking of DNA samples from those arrested on a felony.
Staff writer Lynn Bartels contributed to this report.
