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Panel OKs bill on 'good faith' DNA evidence

BY TYLER WHITLEY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, February 20, 2007


A Senate committee approved unanimously yesterday a bill that would allow DNA evidence improperly gathered to be given to police as long as it was obtained in good faith.

The measure by Del. Robert B. Bell, R-Albemarle, has already cleared the House of Delegates.

There were few objections by civil libertarians as the Senate Courts of Justice Committee considered mostly technical amendments to the bill.

The state's DNA databank, maintained by the Virginia Department of Forensic Science, is considered one of the nation's best. However, a police captain in Charlottesville discovered that some of the DNA found at crime scenes should not have been in the state's databank of 260,000 felons.

Some of those people, while charged as felons, were not convicted, and that information remained in the databank though it should have been purged.

In at least two cases, the improper DNA evidence pointed to murders.

The state crime lab did not feel it could notify the law enforcement agencies. Bell's bill would allow the lab to report its findings to the police, as long as the DNA was gathered in "good faith." A court would then decide if the evidence were admissible.

"We need to plug holes" in the database system, Bell said.

In other actions, the committee, which worked more than nine hours:

Defeated a measure that would allow people who have received a concealed-weapons permit in another state to carry a concealed handgun in Virginia. The State Police opposed the measure, saying many other states do not have the concealed-weapons safeguards that Virginia has.

Rejected a measure that would make it difficult for an illegal alien who is charged with a felony to secure bail. Prosecutors and law enforcement officers favored the bill, saying it would prevent flight out of the country, but others said it would lead to racial profiling and discrimination.

Passed a measure that would bar non-law-enforcement people from setting up sting operations at Virginia gun shows and gun shops. The bill was aimed at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who, trying to curb gun violence in New York, sent operatives to Virginia to make fake straw purchases of guns.

Contact staff writer Tyler Whitley at twhitley@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6780.