« Ind. Courts - More on: "Gag order possible in Carmel case: Judge could rule next month on whether to prohibit comment" | Main | Ind. Gov't. - "Pulling back the curtain on redistricting" »

Friday, July 09, 2010

Courts - "Arrest has put one of the hottest controversies in American law enforcement to its first major test"

From a lengthy, interesting story by Jennifer Steinhauer in today"s NY Times:

Only two states, Colorado and California, have a codified policy permitting a so-called familial search, the use of DNA samples taken from convicted criminals to track down relatives who may themselves have committed a crime. It is a practice that district attorneys and the police say is an essential tool in catching otherwise elusive criminals, but that privacy experts criticize as a threat to civil liberties.

This week, law enforcement struck a significant blow for the practice when the Los Angeles Police Department used it to arrest a man who they say murdered at least 10 residents here over 25 years. It is the first time an active familial search has been used to solve a homicide case in the United States.

Lonnie D. Franklin Jr., 57, was charged Thursday with 10 counts of murder and one of attempted murder after the state DNA lab discovered a DNA link between evidence from the old crime scenes and that of Mr. Franklin’s son, Christopher, who was recently convicted of a felony weapons charge.

The information developed from the state’s familial search program suggested that Christopher Franklin was a relative of the source of the DNA from the old crime scenes. The police confirmed the association of Lonnie Franklin through matching of DNA from a discarded pizza slice. The match provided the crucial link in a seemingly unsolvable crime that struck terror and hopelessness throughout one of the city’s poorest areas for years.

Chief Charlie Beck of the Los Angeles Police said Thursday that he expected to connect Mr. Franklin, who is being held without bail, to other murders.

“This is truly a breakthrough,” said Attorney General Jerry Brown, whose office wrote the DNA policy, in a telephone interview. The use of the practice demonstrates that law enforcement can “stop criminals in their tracks and lock up some of the most vicious and dangerous members of our society,” Mr. Brown said. “That’s why this technology is so important.”

The arrest in the protracted, gory case could settle the internal debate among lawmakers and the law enforcement agencies across the country currently considering the use of familial search, evidence law experts said. California is awaiting a court ruling on whether its DNA database can be expanded to include people who have been arrested.

Here is an earlier ILB entry re familial searching, from Oct. 8, 2009.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 9, 2010 08:47 AM
Posted to Courts in general