DNA Data Bank Oversight Panel
Minutes of September 16, 2020 meeting
The meeting convened at 9:35 a.m.
Participating in the meeting were Kristin Sasinouski, DESPP-Forensic Lab; Carll Ladd, DESPP-Forensic Lab; Megan Olt, DESPP-Forensic Lab; Sevasti Paakanakis, DESPP-Forensic Lab; Kevin Pelkey, SONRA; Michael Aiello, Judicial; Regina Hebert, Judicial; Robert Dearington, Office of the Attorney General; Janet Ainsworth, DESPP- Legal; Joseph Lopez, Office of the Public Defender; John Doyle, Division of Criminal Justice, Michael Gailor, Division of Criminal Justice.
The minutes of the meeting on June 10, 2020, were unanimously approved.
The lab reported that as of September 1, 2020, a total of 128,131 convicted offender samples have been submitted to the lab; 400 since March 1, 2020. Of these samples, 7146 were determined to be duplicate submissions. One hundred twenty thousand five hundred forty-four have been profiled and reside in CODIS. Approximately 165 convicted offender samples are waiting to be processed/entered into CODIS. There are 16,450 profiles in the Forensic Index. Five hundred seven incomplete cases are assigned to DNA and 83 are assigned to Forensic Biology. The lab reported that 7186 investigations have been aided so far by 7297 confirmed hits. Approximately 90 candidate matches are under evaluation. The average time it takes to send out notification of the hit once it has been obtained is sixteen days.
The Judicial Department reported that from April through June 2020 it sent 63 initial and 197 warning letters to individuals whose sentences included a period of probation to remind them of their obligation to provide DNA samples. Judicial sent 7 initial and 36 warning letters to individuals who were not sentenced to a period of probation. Judicial sent 4 requests for warrants to the State Police for individuals who failed to provide a sample. In all, Judicial collected 90 samples.
The Department of Correction reported that it has collected 464 samples from inmates in the year to date. Currently, 104 inmates have refused to provide a sample in violation of the statutes. They have 58 inmates from which samples need to be taken.
The Sexual Offender Registration Unit of the DESPP reported that they have registered 60 new offenders, while the Deadly Weapon Offender Registration Unit has registered 79 new offenders, since the beginning of the year. The Sexual Offender Registration Unit collected 23 samples while the Deadly Weapon Offender Registration Unit collected 2 samples.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:56 a.m.