DNA Typing to Debut in State Criminal Cases This Winter

The use of a genetic code technique involving DNA typing that investigators may find more helpful than fingerprints in tracing crime suspects was approved Tuesday by California Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp.

“I am happy to announce that DNA is ready to go to court, and ready to win,” Van de Kamp told a meeting here of the California District Attorneys Assn.

Already accepted by courts in 13 other states, the technique will be used for the first time in California courts later this winter in Orange and Ventura counties, Van de Kamp said.

The new tool is similar to the fingerprint comparison method used for nearly a century, in which the prints of suspects are matched with those left by criminals at the crime scene.

In the newer technique, Van de Kamp said, laboratory experts can use samples of hair, blood, semen or skin left by a criminal to find his genetic code.

Scientists find the code, which looks like the bar code on supermarket merchandise, by unraveling the compound of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, which is in every cell of the body.

Once a code is found at a crime scene, investigators can compare it to the genetic code of a suspect, he said.

For example, the DNA code for every registered sex offender in California could be recorded in a statewide data base, and matched by computer with codes found at the scene of any sexual attack.

“DNA analysis may be the strongest form of evidence there is for identifying criminals--especially in cases of sexual assault,” Van de Kamp said. “And, theoretically, the odds against two people having the same DNA structure are 30 billion to one. By comparison, fingerprinting gives a much weaker identification.”

Van de Kamp also noted that DNA typing would benefit the falsely accused.

The attorney general gave the go-ahead for the technique one year after saying that more time was needed to make sure evidence based on genetic codes could stand up in court.

Since then, he said, a DNA Advisory Committee with people from the FBI and local law enforcement endorsed the technology for court evidence. The panel was persuaded, in part, by the accuracy of 150 matches using the genetic code.

Ventura County prosecutors expect to go to trial in March in a murder case against Lynda Axel, who was allegedly linked to the crime through DNA analysis of 60 human hairs at the death scene.

Danny Harris, charged with 63 counts of rape, faces a June trial in Orange County based on DNA matching.

“Today, a new era of crime-fighting will begin in California,” Van de Kamp told the prosecutors. “Once this technology is admitted in court, we must quickly make it available to prosecutors and investigators around the state.”

The attorney general said his office will set up a system of up to five regional laboratories to perform the genetic tests after he obtains financing through the Legislature.

“I think you will be seeing this being used more and more by district attorneys throughout the state,” Van de Kamp said.

But he told the prosecutors to be cautious and to “take it slow.”

“The biggest worry I have . . . is that someone would rush into court unprepared and it would be overturned,” he said.