Wider DNA collection passes in House panel

Lawmakers on Thursday moved forward an effort to expand the types of suspects who must submit DNA samples to law enforcement. They also pushed to expand rights for gun owners at polling places.

The House Judiciary Committee passed House Bill 1573, which would require law enforcement officials to take a DNA swab of any offender arrested on a felony charge.

Current Arkansas law requires DNA samples to be taken for anyone convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor that counts as a sex crime. It also requires law enforcement officials to take DNA for people suspected of committing murder, rape, kidnapping and sexual assaults.

Expansion of the statute to include all felonies, ranging from burglaries to cashing hot checks, will cast a wider net to ensnare at-large murderers and rapists and will prevent crime, proponents say.

A day after she appeared in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jayann Sepich testified about the murder of her daughter and how instrumental DNA was in the arrest and conviction of the killer.

Sepich is an advocate for the expansion of DNA collection, and after pushing for the passage of a law in her home state of New Mexico to include the DNA documentation of all felony arrests, including burglary, that state's DNA database has matched 845 crimes.

"[DNA evidence] solves crimes sooner, prevents crimes and saves lives," she said. "We've seen it exonerate the innocent."

Twenty-eight states take DNA for some felony arrests while 14 states take DNA for all felony arrests.

Jeff Rosenzweig, an attorney representing other criminal defense attorneys, said he was concerned that the bill, if enacted, would allow law enforcement officials to take people's DNA samples on "bogus" arrests that don't get prosecuted.

He suggested that the lawmakers require law enforcement officials have the DNA swab signed off on by a judge who has reviewed an arrest affidavit to ensure that the arrest, and thus the cause for taking the DNA, was legitimate.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Camille Bennett, D-Lonoke, offered an amendment to have the law apply only to adults and to allow collection from underage suspects to be allowed only for the most severe or violent crimes.

The amendment also would have allowed DNA collection from minors arrested in burglaries.

Bennett said the complications posed by juvenile-justice courts, and juvenile-court records, compelled her to offer the amendment.

The committee, however, liked the bill without the amendment and moved it through in a unanimous vote.

The committee also moved forward one of several bills seeking to expand the rights of holders of conceal-and-carry gun permits.

HB1432, by Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, D-Warren, would strike polling places from the list of prohibited areas where such permit holders may carry guns.

Wardlaw said restrictions on other types of places that sometimes serve as polling places, like a courthouse, would still maintain bans on allowing guns.

Fellow Democrat Rep. Eddie Armstrong of North Little Rock questioned the need for people to be able to take weapons to polling places and also was concerned about voter intimidation in such circumstances.

"Can you give me the number of criminal incidents at churches or other polling places [that] deemed it necessary that we need the opportunity to carry handguns?" Armstrong asked.

"I'll be glad to let you look that up," Wardlaw said.

Lindsey Bailey, an attorney with the Association of Arkansas Counties, spoke against the bill, saying it could cause confusion among voters thinking they can bring a weapon to a courthouse or a church that prohibits weapons, could alienate poll workers and could lead to confrontations at polling sites.

She said her opposition was shared by many county clerks.

"I would urge you to respect [county clerks'] offices and the jobs they do and maybe hold off until they have the opportunity to be here and speak on their own behalf," she said. "This won't only affect their jobs on Election Day."

The bill passed by voice vote with only one no vote.

Metro on 03/06/2015

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