Study on expansion of Oklahoma DNA database is set

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - An Oklahoma lawmaker who has unsuccessfully worked to require persons accused of crimes to provide samples of their DNA plans to conduct a legislative study on the issue.

Defendants convicted of certain crimes in the state are already required to provide DNA samples to law enforcement authorities to determine if they can be linked to unsolved crimes. But Rep. Lee Denney, R-Cushing, said she wants authorities to be able to secure DNA samples earlier in the criminal justice process.

It sure would be a good tool in solving crime in Oklahoma, Denney said. It implicates the guilty and it exonerates the innocent.

But previous attempts to expand the states DNA database to include those merely accused of crimes have been defeated after lawmakers expressed concern about the constitutionality of targeting suspects who have not been found guilty.

I think the concerns in the Legislature are valid, said Brady Henderson, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma. Its likely that many defendants in that situation would have a viable illegal search-and-seizure claim. It could have a lot of collateral consequences.

Persons convicted of violent felony offenses in the state are required to provide blood or saliva samples to law enforcement authorities. Those samples containing the persons DNA are stored at the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations Forensic Science Center in Edmond and analyzed to determine if the individuals unique biological characteristics can be found in forensic evidence recovered from earlier crime scenes.

In 2009, Gov. Brad Henry signed legislation requiring people convicted of certain misdemeanors to be included in the OSBIs DNA database. Henry said at the time the measure would be a powerful tool law enforcement authorities can use to solve cold cases for crimes such as rape and murder.

Misdemeanors covered by the bill include assault and battery, domestic abuse, stalking, resisting arrest, pointing a firearm, negligent homicide and burglary of a home.

Denneys attempts to expand the states DNA database have been inspired by the case of Jewel Juli Busken, a University of Oklahoma ballet student from Benton, Arkansas, who was raped and murdered Dec. 20, 1996. Busken disappeared from her Norman apartment complex and was later found dead on the shore of Lake Stanley Draper in far southeast Oklahoma City.

Buskens case went unsolved until 2004, when forensic examiners matched DNA from semen stains found on Buskens clothing to Anthony Castillo Sanchez, who was then in prison on a burglary conviction. Sanchez was convicted of first-degree murder, rape and sodomy and sentenced to death in 2006.

Go here to read the rest:
Study on expansion of Oklahoma DNA database is set