Police investigators allegedly used a sexual assault victim’s DNA, collected as part of a rape kit in 2016, to tie her to a burglary in late 2021, according to District Attorney Chesa Boudin. The woman initially faced a felony property crime offense but the charges have since been dropped.operate with much less — if any — regulations and oversight and it may be legal in California to use a victim’s DNA like the investigators did.
The local databases are much smaller, though some agencies collect samples from people who are never arrested or convicted of crimes. They are not subject to the same strict controls as federal and state collections, which typically require a conviction, arrest or warrant before a sample is uploaded.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, is working with advocates and attorneys to scour state law and see where potential loopholes exist that would allow for a victim’s DNA to be used in an another investigation. The senator said initial indications point to a need to introduce additional legislation, which would likely occur in the first half of March.
Camacho said lawmakers are likely to approach this in one of three ways: Establish a clear line where crime labs cannot run victim DNA at all or for only specifically designated offenses such as homicide; come up with a standard where a victim’s DNA may only be searched when the second interest warrants it; or punt it to the courts and require law enforcement to seek a warrant to run the victim’s DNA after a judge has considered the severity of the crime against the manner in which the sample...