DNA Data Bank Oversight Panel
Minutes of Meeting
June 12, 2012
The meeting convened at 9:40 a.m. with introductions. Present at the meeting were Major William Podgorski, Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP)-Forensic Lab, Michael Bourke, DESPP-Forensic Lab; Carll Ladd, DESPP-Forensic Lab; George Camp, Department of Correction (DOC); Wanda White-Lewis, DOC; Lynn Milling, DOC; Lynn Wittinbrink, Attorney General’s Office; Kris Kauffman, Attorney General’s Office; Bob Dearington, Attorney General’s Office; Dawn Hellier, DESPP; Patrick Culligan, Innocence Project; Karen Gabianelli, DESPP, Sex Offender Registry (SOR)/DNA Unit; Michael Aiello, Court Services Support Division (CSSD); Michael Peloso, CSSD; and Brian Austin, Division of Criminal Justice/Office of the Chief State’s Attorney.
The minutes for the March 13, 2012 meeting were accepted.
Dr. Bourke reported that as of May 31st, approximately 90,540 convicted offender samples have been submitted to the Lab, this number has not been corrected for duplicates and administrative purges. Of these samples, 86,209 samples have been profiled and are resident in CODIS. The forensic index contains 4,334 profiles. There are more than 5,500 forensic cases waiting DNA processing. There were a total of 1,878 confirmed hits as May 31st.
Dr. Bourke reported that an external FBI QAS audit was completed from May 29th to 31st. Only a few non-scientific findings were made.
Dr. Bourke reported that federal funds are available for use now. He indicated that approximately $500,000 in grant funds will be available to purchase equipment and supplies as the state is going to pick up the costs for personnel currently funded by an assortment of federal grants beginning on June 29th. The 2012 grant application for approximately $600,000 is pending at the National Institute of Justice.
Dr. Bourke reported that all durational positions have been filled. The lab has resumed processing offender samples and eliminated the backlog of nearly 5,000 samples which had accumulated.
Michael Aiello of the Court Support Services Division reported that in the first quarter of 2012, 586 DNA samples were taken which represents approximately 76% of the total scheduled. CSSD is working to collect the remaining samples. Also during the first quarter of 2012, CSSD requested the issuance of arrest warrants for 5 people who did not submit to the taking of a sample. Mr. Aiello introduced Michael Peloso who will be the new representative from CSSD on the Panel.
George Camp from the Department of Correction indicated that DOC has taken 470 samples since the last meeting. There are still 304 people in DOC custody that have refused to provide samples, down 4 since the last meeting.
The Panel went into executive session at 10:05 a.m. At 10:29 a.m. the meeting came out of executive session. As a result of action taken in the session, samples designated as 06-12a, 06-12d, 06-12e, 06-12e were directed to be purged from the database; the sample designated 06-12b was held for discussion at the next meeting; the sample designated 06-12c was withdrawn from consideration; and the sample designated 06-12g was directed to be expunged from the database.
At 10:30, the meeting was adjourned. The next meeting of the Oversight Panel was scheduled for September 18, 2012 at 9:30 a.m. at the Forensic Science Laboratory.