DENVER—A 4-month-old state law that has raised concerns over unreasonable searches but is viewed as an important crime-fighting tool has resulted in solid leads in 40 unsolved crimes.
State law enforcement officials announced Wednesday that nearly 10,000 DNA samples taken from suspected felons have been added to the state’s database and checked against DNA found at unsolved crimes since Katie’s Law was implemented in September. Matches have been found in more than three dozen cases ranging from sexual assaults and arsons to burglaries.
Twenty-four states have passed Katie’s Law, named after 22-year-old Katie Sepich, who was raped and murdered in New Mexico in 2003. Sepich’s mother, Jayann, who has been campaigning for such laws since her daughter’s death, said 16 other states have introduced similar legislation this year. Federal law enforcement began collecting DNA on all detainees beginning in 2008.
Jayann Sepich was in Santa Fe, N.M., Wednesday campaigning to strengthen the law in that state, where there have been 177 matches to crime scenes since Katie’s Law was enacted four years ago.
But the law, credited with solving cold cases and stopping repeat offenders, is facing multiple challenges. A case pending in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeks to block California’s law, and a Minnesota appellate court ruled the law unconstitutional in 2006. Virginia’s statute, however, has been upheld as constitutional, said Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, who pushed for Colorado’s law.
“I fully expect the ACLU to challenge this statute,” Morrissey said. “Now we have some cases and now the challenge can begin.”
Mark Silverstein, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, has vowed a legal challenge and said the organization has been searching for anybody forced to submit a DNA sample who would want to participate in a lawsuit.
Samples from felony suspects are taken during the booking process through a cheek swab. Law enforcement officials liken the DNA sample to fingerprints and mug shots taken at the time of the arrest, while opponents cite several cases, including a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said there is a reasonable expectation of privacy when it comes to bodily fluids such as blood, urine and saliva.
Morrissey said investigators at crime scenes often find DNA, including semen in sexual assault cases or blood where a suspect may have been cut on glass. There’s also DNA on partially eaten food, such as a tuna sandwich that someone spat out.
Aside from Morrissey and other law enforcement officials, Wednesday’s news conference included newly confirmed Colorado Department of Public Safety Director James H. Davis, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Director Ron Sloan, and two state lawmakers who sponsored the bill: Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, and Sen. Steve King, R-Grand Junction. They said the law helps save thousands of hours of investigative time, as police aren’t following false leads. It also helps exonerate suspects, King said.
“If you question this, let’s go talk to the expert, Tim Masters,” King said, referring to a Fort Collins man freed from prison after 10 years in 2008 after DNA tests failed to put him at the scene of Peggy Hettrick’s 1987 slaying. “Quite simply, DNA is a scientifically high-tech blessing for justice.”
Colorado’s law include several safeguards to protect arrestees’ rights. One ensures the DNA sample is not entered into the state’s database until prosecutors file charges. Officials said some 5,000 DNA samples have been collected but not entered into the database because of this.
Those not charged or who are acquitted can ask the state to expunge the record, and there’s a $25,000 penalty for law enforcement if it’s not.
A $2.50 charge added to traffic tickets and felony and misdemeanor convictions pays for the testing.
