DNA Data Bank Oversight Panel
Minutes of meeting of June 8, 2022
The meeting convened at 9:42 a.m.
Participating in the meeting were Cheryl Carreiro, DESPP-Forensic Lab; Michael Morganti, DESPP-Forensic Lab; Daniel Renstrom, DESPP-Forensic Lab; Megan Olt, DESPP-Forensic Lab; Regina Hebert, Judicial; Joseph Sanford, CSP-SONRA; Phil Chappell; CSP-SONRA; Matthew Reed, DESPP-Legal; Robert Meredith, Innocence Project; Lisamaria Proscino, Office of the Attorney General; John Doyle, Division of Criminal Justice; Michael Gailor, Division of Criminal Justice.
The minutes of the meeting on March 9, 2022, were unanimously approved.
The lab reported that as of June 1, 2022, a total of 130,402 convicted offender samples have been submitted to the lab; 434 since March 1, 2021. Of these samples, 7331 were determined to be duplicate submissions. One hundred twenty three thousand eighty are searching in CODIS. Approximately 694 convicted offender samples are waiting to be processed/entered into CODIS. There are 18,928 profiles in the Forensic Index. The backlog of forensic cases includes seven hundred sixty-one assigned to DNA.
The lab reported that 9,049 investigations have been aided so far by 9,234 confirmed hits. Approximately 100 candidate matches are under evaluation. The average time it takes to send out notification of the hit once it has been obtained is fifteen days.
The Judicial Department reported that from January through March, 2022, it sent 260 initial and 163 warning letters to individuals whose sentences included a period of probation to remind them of their obligation to provide DNA samples. Judicial sent 89 initial and 47 warning letters to individuals who were not sentenced to a period of probation. Judicial collected 279 samples during that time period. Judicial sent 10 requests for warrants to the State Police for individuals who failed to provide a sample and requested the Department of Corrections collect 17 samples.
The Department of Correction was not able to attend but reported that it has collected 426 samples since March 9, 2022, and 642 samples from inmates in the year to date. Currently, 93 inmates have refused to provide a sample in violation of the statutes. They have 80 inmates from which samples need to be taken. The Sexual Offender Registration Unit of the DESPP reported that from December 1, 2021 to March 1, 2022, it registered 80 new sexual offenders, while the Deadly Weapon Offender Registration Unit has registered 80 new offenders.
The Sexual Offender Registration Unit collected 42 samples while the Deadly Weapon Offender Registration Unit collected 5 samples.
The meeting concluded at 10:13 a.m.