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State Representative Tony Cornish
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4240
For more information contact: Jason Wenisch 651-296-2317
NEWS RELEASE
REP. CORNISH AUTHORS FAMILIAL DNA PROPOSAL
ST. PAUL – In an effort to help solve brutal crimes that have run out of leads, State Representative Tony Cornish (R-Good Thunder) is authoring legislation that would allow law enforcement to use the DNA of a suspect’s family member in order advance the case.
“Criminal investigators tell me that a law allowing the collection of familial DNA would be invaluable to them as they try to solve some of Minnesota’s most gruesome crimes,” Cornish said. “But it’s also important to set limits on its collection, as there are personal privacy rights that must be protected.”
Cornish points out that a suspected serial killer in California had not faced charges for 30 years until authorities utilized familial DNA last year. While law enforcement had obtained DNA at the crime scenes, no direct match was found within California’s criminal database.
But a partial match did show up on a person who had a prior felony weapons conviction, who also happened to be the suspect’s son. Based on this information, authorities were then able to obtain DNA from the suspect, and found a direct match with the DNA that was collected at the crime scenes.
Under Cornish’s legislation, familial DNA could only be used after law enforcement first attempts to find a direct match in the DNA database and exhausts all other reasonable investigative leads. It also limits the searches to investigations involving first or second degree murder, first or second degree criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping, missing persons, or other cases involving an imminent threat to public safety.
“If investigators have reached a dead end on solving a heinous crime and the perpetrator remains on the loose, law enforcement should be able to utilize familial DNA in order to eliminate a potential threat to the public’s safety,” Cornish said.
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