Charleston, W.V.
Mike Olivorio
Under the current state law, DNA samples are taken from any person guilty of a hooliganism and selecting rapes.
The House Bill 4627 would have widened the existing law, including DNA cheek swab for adults arrested on violence allegations against someone, in a case related to a robbery, or a minor. Samples will be conducted in a data base. If the person is not found guilty or the allegations are abandoned, the accused person will have to file a petition to remove the sample to the court.
The Senate version of the bill comes from Sen Mike Olivario, R-Monongalia. He said that his bill tries to compromise.
Olivario said, “If someone is arrested and then convicted, it opens the door to be able to gather that DNA evidence for us,” said Olivario.
The bill has passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and then goes to the Senate Finance Committee. Finance Committee Chairman Eric Tar, R-Putam, is a co-protagonist.
Olivario stated that target is a reliable data base to provide law enforcement to improve their ability to resolve crimes.
“We will be able to take DNA samples from a slightly comprehensive group of people and be able to be more effective in resolving crimes, and this is the goal,” he said.
The Senate Bill 556 connects the requirement of prosecution and includes automatic provisions to release samples from those that are found innocent or allegations dropped in an incident.
“If he has been arrested for a violent crime, especially for those crimes of domestic violence, and then in that case and even in that case, if the person has been approved, that DNA sample is abolished and removed from the database,” Olivario said.
A woman college student who was raped in her dom room, testified during a recent debate in the Senate Judiciary Committee. He said that the investigation remained unresolved for years. In that case the suspect was finally sent for testing and convicted with the help of a DNA sample from outside the West Virginia.
Olivario said, “We had no process for that case, not only the person would have become independent, but the person would have been very much likely to rape and harm others.”
Confidence of privacy is a big stumbling, but Olivario said that the federal protocols are durable and have worked without violations for many years.
“In the decades it existed, data has never been violated. Therefore, someone who is concerned about privacy is definitely warrant, but there is no evidence to suggest that there is actually a concern.”
The House Bill was defeated at 30-66 votes.