Familial DNA may have just cracked the Grim Sleeper serial killer case in Los Angeles, leading to the arrest of Lonnie Franklin alleged to have killed at least 10 women and one male. Currently, familial DNA is only legal in California and Colorado but with a stunning early success in the Grim Sleeper serial killer case, familial DNA could be coming to your state soon.
Familial DNA will revolutionize criminal investigations by allowing police to solve cold cases; current crimes which would have been unsolvable; and to solve crimes much more quickly. As in the Grim Sleeper case, familial DNA can allow police to focus investigations and locate criminals when the police have a DNA sample from a crime scene which without familial DNA analysis, would have been unidentified. Now, DNA can be connected to a close family member if a family member has DNA on file.
Opponents will argue that familial DNA searches infringe upon constitutional guarantees against unwarranted searches; violate the privacy of family members who have relatives with DNA in the database; and unfairly target blacks because there are many more blacks than whites with DNA samples in the database.
I believe that while the use of familial DNA is an additional intrusion into privacy, its use is far more valuable than its cost to privacy. Not only can the use of familial DNA save many lives in countless future criminal cases (how many people will still be alive just because the Grim Sleeper was caught), but use of familial DNA will be of substantial benefit in preventing innocent people from being convicted. While there may be many more blacks in the DMA database, familial DNA has the ability to save the lives of blacks from both criminals and wrongful convictions. Consider the case of Eddie Lloyd who was wrongfully convicted and other people who were exonerated by the Innocence Project.
Familial DNA analysis itself is not racial. Criminal defense lawyers know how to deal with DNA issues at trial and the exclusion of DNA evidence which should not be admitted into evidence at trial.
Read information about familial DMA at the Colorado D.A.’s office and STR Analysis
