{"id":37246,"date":"2016-04-02T17:11:37","date_gmt":"2016-04-02T17:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viconsortium.com\/?p=37246"},"modified":"2016-04-02T17:11:37","modified_gmt":"2016-04-02T17:11:37","slug":"bill-mandating-dna-testing-without-criminal-conviction-becomes-law-veto-override","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=37246","title":{"rendered":"Bill Mandating DNA Testing Without Criminal Conviction Becomes Law With Veto Override"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ST. THOMAS &#8212; Senator Novelle Francis&#8217; biggest piece of legislation that gives law enforcement the authority to conduct DNA testing on persons charged with felony, misdemeanor sexual assault and violent crimes \u00a0\u2014 even before those accused are convicted of said crimes &#8212; became law on Wednesday after 31st Legislature senators voted to override Governor Kenneth Mapp&#8217;s veto.<\/p>\n<p>The governor had contended that\u00a0the measure, as written, \u201cruns afoul of the Fourth Amendment, and in its entirety, does not comport with the standard approved in <em>Maryland v. King, 133 S. Ct. 1958 (2013).\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;While the bill references <em>Maryland v. King<\/em> as support, it fails to acknowledge that the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s decision was expressly limited to factual considerations in the case before it, i.e. use of cheek swab along with the statutory safeguards against government misuse of information collected,&#8221; Mr. Mapp said. &#8220;The existing statute for convicted persons is simply not amenable to application to arrested, but not convicted, persons through the simple barebones amendments in this bill. Without additional work, this measure would not pass constitutional muster.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Mapp had invited Mr. Francis to meet with him and the attorney general &#8220;to further discuss amendments to the statute which will comport with the standards approved by the U.S. Supreme Court.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The invite, however, was rendered useless as Mr. Francis, during a marathon Senate session at the Earl B. Ottley Legislative Hall, brought a motion to override the governor&#8217;s veto, which was supported unanimously.<\/p>\n<p>During a recent hearing,\u00a0Mr. Francis had argued passionately in favor of the measure, and supporters invited to testify during a Committee on Homeland Security, Justice and Public Safety hearing, came fully prepared to demonstrate the bill\u2019s importance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy collecting DNA from arrestees, law enforcement can identify criminals early and create more efficient investigation practices,\u201d Mr. Francis said last month. \u201cWith DNA match, law enforcement can quickly narrow on the right suspects, saving untold man hours and manpower.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And he said DNA testing could also bring resolution to cases in the territory that have gone cold, which would \u201csubsequently bring closure to victims and their families.\u201d Mr. Francis sought to remind his colleagues that there were 54 rape and sexual assault cases in the territory in 2014; and 51 such cases in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRape has a lasting effect on victims and creates serious family issues,\u201d Mr. Francis reminded, as he solicited the support of senators, all of whom, not withstanding a few concerns, supported the measure.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Feature Image: Officers inspect a crime scene near Central High School in September, 2015 during a drive-by shooting incident.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Image Credit: The Virgin Islands Consortium.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"social4ivbottom\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ST. THOMAS &#8212; Senator Novelle Francis&#8217; biggest piece of legislation that gives law enforcement the authority to conduct DNA testing on persons charged with felony, misdemeanor sexual assault and violent crimes \u00a0\u2014 even before those accused are convicted of said crimes &#8212; became law on Wednesday after 31st Legislature senators voted to override Governor Kenneth [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4400,191,147],"tags":[4797,1648,121],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bill Mandating DNA Testing Without Criminal Conviction Becomes Law With Veto Override - V.I. Consortium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Find Virgin Islands new, opinion, politics, lifestyle, business and more\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=37246\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ernice Gilbert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=37246\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?p=37246\",\"name\":\"Bill Mandating DNA Testing Without Criminal Conviction Becomes Law With Veto Override - V.I. 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I've been the Editor-In-Chief at my videogames website, Gamesthirst, for over 5 years, writing over 7,000 articles and more than 2 million words. I'm also very passionate about where I live, the United States Virgin Islands, and I'm intent on making it a better place by being resourceful and keeping our leaders honest. VI Consortium was birthed out of said desire, hopefully my efforts bear fruit. Reach me at ernice@viconsortium.com.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/ernicegilbert.com\/\"],\"url\":\"http:\/\/wp.viconsortium.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bill Mandating DNA Testing Without Criminal Conviction Becomes Law With Veto Override - V.I. 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