The governor cited an announcement by New York State Director of Criminal Justice Chauncey Parker, Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings, District Attorney David Soares and Albany City Police Chief James E. Turley regarding the link of an offender to the rape of an elderly woman in 2000, as well as to two previous homicides. Raymon McGill was identified following his conviction and sentencing for a DNA qualifying offense just this year, although he had been convicted of other crimes. The governor said if his proposed legislation had been in effect and allowed the collection of DNA from offenders convicted of misdemeanor offenses, this individual would have been identified at the time of the 2000 rape and a homicide would likely have been prevented.
"DNA is a powerful crime-fighting tool that helps convict the guilty, exonerate the innocent and bring justice to victims. Expanding the DNA Databank has long been a priority of ours and passing this legislation will be another step in the right direction," said Pataki. "The bottom line is that requiring more convicted criminals to submit a DNA sample will allow our law enforcement professionals to solve more tough cases and catch criminals before they murder and rape again. Every time New York's databank is expanded, more heinous crimes are solved and prevented. In the last 12 months, since the databank was last expanded, the Databank has had 447 hits linking evidence to a suspect, 82 of which were results of the new DNA qualifying offenses added last year.
"New York is already the safest large state in America and enacting this new measure will help us reach our goal of making New York the safest state in the nation over the next four years," the governor added.
Albany Mayor Gerald D. Jennings said, "Raymon McGill's arrest ... is a testament to the advancement of DNA technology and how vital a tool it is for law enforcement. I am committed to bringing whatever resources are needed to assist the Albany Police Department in fighting crime in the City of Albany."
DNA technology is helping law enforcement officials in New York State identify the perpetrators of serious crimes, and assure justice in the courts, said Pataki in a release. Since April of 2000, there have been more than 1960 hits, linking offenders to more than 3,100 individual crimes, in the state DNA databank. It is possible that many of these crimes would not have been solved without the use of forensic DNA technology and the New York State DNA Databank.
Albany County District Attorney Davis Soares said, "The arrest of McGill graphically illustrates the power of modern forensic science to expand the scope of investigation and prosecution. The implications of this new tool are profound. On the one hand it creates a powerful new tool for all of law enforcement. However, on the other hand it has the counterintuitive impact of making the job of prosecution much more difficult. The reason for this is that citizen jurors are now expecting a much higher degree of professionalism out of law enforcement than has been the case in the past. The challenge here is for all of us to rise and meet these expectations. We can do this by expanding the DNA database through the investment of additional resources in its development and application. But we also must do it by changing our behavior. As new techniques, new tools, and new methods become available, we will inevitably find that the time has come for many of the traditional approaches to the investigation of crime scenes to pass by the wayside."
The governor's legislation called for all individuals convicted of any crime in the state of New York to submit a sample into the State DNA Databank. Governor Pataki has also proposed the establishment of an Innocence Project program within the Division of Criminal Justice Services to help support organizations that work to exonerate the wrongfully convicted through post-conviction DNA testing. In addition, the proposed legislation would toll the statute of limitations in criminal cases where DNA evidence identifies the defendant.
Currently, the New York State DNA databank holds more than 144,000 offender DNA profiles and nearly 15,000 forensic evidence profiles. In human terms, that means that there are 15,000 unsolved cases for which DNA evidence has been recovered that could lead to the identification of the perpetrator if his/her DNA sample is ever added to the system.
Two recent studies by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services show that, on average, offenders linked to crimes using the DNA Databank had approximately 12 prior convictions. In addition, these studies and a review of the "hits"' from the DNA Databank show most criminals do not specialize in their offending patterns. For example, of the more than 1100 offenders linked to sexual assault cases through a DNA Databank "hit," over 80 percent were in the Databank based on a prior conviction for an offense other than a sex-related offense, such as larceny, burglary or drug sale or possession.
New York State Director of Criminal Justice Chauncey G. Parker said, "Governor Pataki has proposed common sense DNA legislation that will allow New York to fully harness the power of DNA technology and give police officers across this state the valuable tools they need to solve crimes. We know that every time we expand the New York State DNA Databank we save lives and give crime victims the justice they deserve. By passing this legislation, we will help keep New York the nation's leader in crime reduction and make this state a safer place for our families."
