Monroe County ahead of the pack in testing felons’ DNA
By Marcela Creps 331-4375 | mcreps@heraldt.com
July 8, 2007
A state law requiring DNA testing for convicted felons sent some counties scrambling, but Monroe County’s participation in a pilot program meant there was no need to round up offenders.
“Monroe County has been doing it for years,” said Linda Brady, Monroe Circuit Court chief probation officer. The probation office oversees DNA collection for the county.
Indiana had been collecting DNA from certain convicted felons, but a change in the law required DNA samples from all felons convicted after July 1, 2005.
The pilot program, which also included White and Vanderburgh counties, allowed the probation office to design procedures for how DNA would be collected. In Monroe County, convicted felons are brought to the probation office after sentencing in order to fill out paperwork and take a swab.
When felons are brought to the probation office, they are required to show identification. After a thumbprint is taken, the offender opens his or her mouth so a probation office employee can swab the inside of the cheek. Four different swabs are taken alternating from right to left. The four swabs are put into two envelopes. Both envelopes are then sealed with the offender’s pertinent information. The swabs are packaged with an information sheet including the offender’s thumb print and sealed in an envelope. The envelopes collected locally are sent to the state lab once a week.
Paul Misner, supervisor of the forensic biology center with Indiana State Police, said four swabs allow for any problems that may occur during collection. He said two swabs are sent to an outside vendor that analyzes the swabs to create the profile for the database. ISP keeps the other two swabs.
Not all counties collect DNA the same way. In some counties, the sheriff’s office is responsible for collecting DNA. In other counties, the work is outsourced to companies that test it.
ISP sends collections from Indiana counties to a lab once a month for processing, Misner said.
Samples are first verified and checked to make sure the offender’s DNA has not already been processed. The DNA collected is assigned a number so there is no name affiliated with it as it is processed. The state uses three companies for DNA analysis.
When the DNA comes back to the state, it is reviewed before it is processed through the Combined DNA Index System or CODIS. DNA collected in Indiana is compared to police cases from all 50 states.
With the use of computer software, a list of possible matches is produced. Sometimes the match comes back to the case for which the offender was convicted. Any unsolved cases that are matched are then retested using the remaining DNA samples ISP keeps. Reports also are sent to the police agency involved so it can request additional testing.
Since Indiana’s DNA registry went into effect, 732 police cases have been aided in finding a suspect including 34 homicides, 138 sexual assaults, 256 property crimes and 25 robberies.
Misner said DNA testing has come a long way. He said there was a time when DNA testing was only submitted to ISP if the arresting agency had a suspect. Having the ability to compare DNA collected from felons to DNA from unsolved cases even has helped local police solve a few cases.
A 2001 rape case involving an IU graduate student was solved when DNA collected from the victim was matched to a suspect who was serving time in the Pendleton Correctional Facility. The man, Lamon D. Smith, eventually pleaded guilty to burglary.
According to Bloomington Police Capt. Joe Qualters, DNA can be collected from a number of crime scenes including sexual assaults, burglaries, home invasions and murders. It can be extracted from semen, sweat, other bodily fluids, hair follicles and blood.
Although TV programs can typically solve their cases within an hour, in reality it could take months before results are returned because the labs are so busy.
“We have to use discretion in what we submit and not raise our expectations too high on a minor event,” Qualters said. “We recognized the lab is overburdened.”