Wesselhoft wants to expand DNA database

OKLAHOMA CITY — Any person arrested for a felony would be required to provide a DNA sample, under a bill filed this week by a Cleveland County lawmaker.

State Rep. Paul Wesselhoft, R-Moore, said his proposal — House Bill 2603 — could help police solve “many unresolved crimes.”

In a media statement sent to The Transcript, Wesselhoft said the measure, “would require all individuals arrested on felony charges to provide a DNA sample for a state database.”

Should it pass, Wesselhoft said the bill would be known as “Katie’s Law,” in honor of a New Mexico crime victim.

“In August 2003, 22-year-old Katie Sepich was brutally attacked outside her home in New Mexico. She was raped and strangled, and her body was set on fire and abandoned at an old dump site. No suspects were immediately identified, but skin and blood samples were found under her fingernails, leaving the attacker’s DNA sample. The DNA samples were sent to the national DNA database system,” he said.

Wesselhoft said most states do not currently allow law enforcement to take DNA samples for felony arrests, making it more difficult to identify suspects through the national database.

“If there was a swab of the person who killed Katie, they would now be in prison and unable to harm someone else,” he said. “By expanding the DNA database, we can catch more bad guys who would otherwise remain free.”

Officials with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation say they support the idea.

“We have a statewide DNA database and the more people and samples we have in it the more crimes we can solve,” said Jessica Brown, OSBI public information officer. “Many states have already done this — it’s a good situation for everyone. It will help us solve more crimes and prevent other crimes from happening, and it will help victims’ families find closure.”

However, some defense attorneys disagree.

Norman attorney David Smith, who serves as Cleveland County’s public defender, said Wesselhoft’s bill “was a terrible idea.”

“Beyond the obvious privacy issues, people who are arrested for a felony haven’t been convicted of anything,” Smith said. “And each year thousands of people are arrested on a felony charge.”

It’s that huge amount, he said, that could cause errors in processing and handling the DNA samples.

“The thing that bothers me most is this: There’s gonna’ be an awful lot of felony arrests, and everyone one is going to have to provide a sample,” he said. “In some places, in the smaller counties, consider the idea you’re going to have people who may not be very well trained or who may very well have no training at all. With that many samples, the potential for error is huge.”

Statistics support Smith’s claim.

Data included in Norman’s 2006 Community Report Card show the Norman Police Department made 3,635 arrests for the “eight most serious crimes” for 2006.

“When you look at the number of felony arrests on a county level, well the numbers would be huge,” Smith said.

In addition, Smith said he has “real concerns” about residents being forced to turn over personal information — such as DNA — to the government.

“People think DNA profiling is very routine, they see it all the time,” he said. “But when you are talking about giving the government the power to take a piece of your body, the potential for abuse is real. I’m sure at some we’re going to be able to look at person’s DNA profile. I know insurance companies want that type of information now, because it lets them hedge their bets on who they would provide coverage for.”

Wesselhoft’s bill, he said, would give government “too much” information about a person who hasn’t been convicted of a crime.

“It’s terrible, and the potential problems with it are enormous,” he said.

Wesselhoft downplayed the bill’s controversy.

“DNA profiles generated by crime labs contain no private medical or genetic information. This protects privacy,” he said. “There has been no instance of misuse of the DNA database. But there is evidence of its success—already the data has been used to solve nearly 50,000 crimes nationwide, according to the FBI.”

Wesselhoft said all states require DNA for felony convictions, and 26 of those states have considered bills to require DNA samples from individuals arrested on felony charges.

“This should be an easy measure to pass,” he said. “It is a measure that could prevent what happened to Katie from happening again by identifying criminals based on DNA before they are able to strike again.”

No so, Smith said.

“You are always going to be able to find anecdotal evidence like that. A single situation is not a good enough reason to give the government that authority,” he said. “A mistake could have horrible consequences.”

State lawmakers will have the chance to review Wesselhoft’s proposal in two weeks, when the Legislature reconvenes in Oklahoma City.