Push to expand DNA database
/ File photo
Onondaga County's top prosecutor is publicly supporting a push by the governor to expand the state's DNA database.
The bill Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to sign passed late Wednesday in the Legislature. It will require collecting a saliva swab from everyone convicted of any felony and all but one penal misdemeanor starting Oct. 1. "DNA is an extremely valuable tool in solving crimes, convicting the guilty and exculpating the innocent," said Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick. "It is a travesty that this tool has not been used to its fullest potential in New York because of misleading information perpetuated by its opponents. Expanding the Databank will unquestionably solve crimes, save lives and make this state a safer place to live."
The deal would double New York's DNA database with genetic information from those convicted of all felonies and all but one penal misdemeanor. It excludes misdemeanor possession of less than 25 grams of marijuana in public view. Various lower-level violations are also excluded. "It is a proven fact: DNA helps solve crimes, prosecute the guilty, and protects the innocent," Cuomo said.
In Onondaga County, Fitzpatrick points to a recent case locally where the expanded database would have saved a woman's life. In 2007, 65-year-old Carol Nelson was sexually assaulted and murdered in a wooded area off 7th North Street in the Town of Salina. Her killer, Glen Shoop, had two prior convictions that under the proposed bill would have required his DNA profile to be in the database.
At the time of her murder, those convictions did not require Shoop to provide a DNA sample. If it had, he would have been in custody for a prior 2000 unsolved rape case and Nelson's life would have been spared, Fitzpatrick said.
The measure would guarantee defense access to the database in efforts to exonerate suspects through both pretrial and post-conviction motions to a judge. That would apply to "reasonable" requests in advance that the information is material or "credible allegations" afterward that the evidence would determine actual innocence. Even after pleading guilty, a defendant could file such a motion within five years.
In New York, prosecutors don't have to share discovery evidence until the eve of trial. "It's an epic change in the law," said Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, a Brooklyn Democrat. Richard Aborn of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, an advocacy group for public safety, said the bill balances the legitimate needs of law enforcement with those of defendants and the unlawfully convicted.
But the idea of taking DNA at the time of arrest concerns many civil libertarians who feel it could violate a suspect's civil rights since they are considered innocent until proven guilty. They also fear that a DNA database could be misused by law enforcement.
The state police lab in Albany has more than 416,000 offender DNA patterns on file. The automated system uploads as many as 4,000 samples a month in a blind process, meaning saliva samples are identified by numbers, not names, and there are no markers for race. They show gender. The 15 numbers measuring genetic patterns are unique to each person and to identical twins. Lab officials say they have the capacity already to process 10,000 samples monthly, which are compared against crime scene DNA patterns.
Information from the Associated Press used in this article.
