DNA Data Bank Oversight Panel
Minutes of meeting of March 10, 2021The meeting convened at 9:31 a.m.
Participating in the meeting were Patricia Johannes, DESPP-Forensic Lab; Michael Aiello, Judicial; David Maiga, Department of Correction; Elizabeth Tugie, DOC; Robert Dearington, Office of the Attorney General; Janet Ainsworth, DESPP-Legal; Kathleen Ayers, DESPP-Legal; Joseph Lopez, Office of the Public Defender; Robert Meredith, Innocence Project; John Doyle, Division of Criminal Justice, Michael Gailor, Division of Criminal Justice.
The minutes of the meeting on December 9, 2020, were unanimously approved.
The lab reported that as of March 1, 2021, a total of 128,714 convicted offender samples have been submitted to the lab; 314 since December 1, 2020. Of these samples, 7177 were determined to be duplicate submissions. One hundred twenty one thousand two hundred twenty-three have been profiled and reside in CODIS. Approximately 154 convicted offender samples are waiting to be processed/entered into CODIS. There are 17,627 profiles in the Forensic Index. The backlog of forensic cases includes six hundred ninety-four assigned to DNA. The lab reported that 7722 investigations have been aided so far by 7843 confirmed hits. Approximately 65 candidate matches are under evaluation. The average time it takes to send out notification of the hit once it has been obtained is twenty-three days.
The Judicial Department reported that from October through December 2020 it sent 167 initial and 58 warning letters to individuals whose sentences included a period of probation to remind them of their obligation to provide DNA samples. Judicial sent 27 initial and 16 warning letters to individuals who were not sentenced to a period of probation. Judicial sent 5 requests for warrants to the State Police for individuals who failed to provide a sample and requested the Department of Correction collect two samples.
For the calendar year of 2020, the Judicial Department sent 1140 initial and warning letters in probation cases and collected 641 samples. Judicial indicated 105 people sentenced without probation needed to submit samples. Overall in 2020, they sent 15 requests for warrants to the State Police and requested the Department of Correction collect 17 samples.
The Department of Correction reported that it has collected 102 samples from inmates in the year to date. Currently, 101 inmates have refused to provide a sample in violation of the statutes. They have 54 inmates from which samples need to be taken.
A representative of the Sexual Offender Registration Unit of the DESPP was unable to attend but will send a report about their activity to members of the Panel shortly.
At 10:02 a.m., the Committee went into executive session. The executive session was concluded at 10:17 a.m. As a result of the discussion that took place in executive session, the following actions are being taken:
Sample 3-10-21 A – Action on this sample was deferred for further investigation..
Sample 3-10-21 B – The sample will remain in the Data Bank.
Sample 3-10-21 C – The sample will be purged from the Data Bank.
Sample 12-9-2020 D – The sample will be purged from the Data Bank.
The meeting was concluded at 11:01 a.m.
The next meeting of the Panel is scheduled for June 9, 2021 at 9:30 a.m.