It’s not often that the ACLU and Sen. Kevin Lundberg — one of the legislature’s most conservative lawmakers — can agree, but they came close Wednesday during debate on a DNA bill.
Senate Bill 241 requires a DNA sample be taken upon an adult’s felony arrest. Under current law, the sample is taken upon conviction.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 5-1 to approve the measure, despite concerns it might violate a person’s right against unreasonable searches and seizure.
Among those urging its passage was Jayann Sepich, the mother of a 22-year-old college student raped and murdered in 2003. Sepich has pushed 16 states to pass laws requiring DNA upon arrest; the measures were called “Katie’s Law” after her slain daughter.
“To me as a mother who buried her daughter, what this does is save lives,” she said.
Sepich and the bill sponsor, Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, outlined cases where if a suspect’s DNA had been taken at the time of arrest, he wouldn’t have been free to commit a string of rapes and murders.
Lawmakers in both parties expressed concern that those found not guilty or who are not charged have to go through unreasonable steps to get their DNA expunged from the records.
“It’s just as heinous to make an innocent person suffer,” said Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Westminster.
Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, was the lone “no” vote against the measure.
“I think we’ve done damage, permanent damage, to everything I hold dear in the Constitution,” she said.
Lundberg, R-Berthoud, also had concerns.
“It’s one of those things where you want to give law enforcement the ability to catch the bad guys, but it’s perilously close to violating the Fourth Amendment,” he said.
Morse fought attempts to amend the bill to address his colleagues’ concerns because he said the suggestions were sure to drive up the cost and he already has no idea where he’s going to find the $1.8 million he needs to fund it for its first year.
Several law enforcement officers testified in favor of the bill, calling DNA a powerful tool in crime fighting.
But public defender Douglas Wilson called the measure “genetic surveillance.” And Cathryn Hazouri, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, urged that it be killed.
Earlier Wednesday at a news conference at the Capitol, Sepich was flanked by Morse and Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey.
“DNA used in this way saves people lives,” Morrissey said. “It exonerates innocent people. And it saves millions of dollars in law enforcement (costs).”
Sepich said a detective said her daughter had fought so hard for her life that she had her killer’s blood and skin under her fingernails. That’s when the family learned that police routinely take fingerprints and mug shots upon arrest, but not DNA samples.
Sepich said she began researching DNA and discovered “what was truly important was not just catching the man who killed my daughter but saving lives.”
