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MN: DNA taking for misdemeanor domestic battery conviction was reasonable

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Taking of DNA from a misdemeanant convicted of “predatory offense” of domestic assault that was originally a felony was reasonable. State v. Johnson, 2010 Minn. App. LEXIS 12 (January 26, 2010): The Bartylla court concluded that the state has substantial interests in DNA collection, specifically identifying these interests as "exonerating the innocent, deterring recidivism, identifying offenders of past and future crimes, and bringing closure for victims of unsolved crimes." Id. at 18. Here, the legislature has narrowly defined the misdemeanor offenses to which Minn. Stat. § 609.117 applies, namely those arising from the same set of circumstances as a charged felony, such that the substantial state interests enumerated in Bartylla exist with equal force for these non-felony offenses...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 29, 2010 (boomark / email).