The Dakota County Sheriff's Office is poised to revive the practice of collecting DNA samples from people who have been arrested and charged with violent crimes, but not yet convicted — a procedure that the Minnesota Court of Appeals previously ruled unconstitutional.
Sheriff Tim Leslie announced the plan Tuesday, saying he expects to begin the DNA collection within the next couple weeks. In explaining the move, Dakota County officials said a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that permits such DNA collection overrides the Minnesota court's 2006 opinion.
Dakota County will be the first in the state to resume the practice, Leslie said. Other metro counties — and civil liberties advocates — are watching to see what happens.
To collect a DNA sample, the Sheriff's Office will need a determination from a judge that there is probable cause to charge a person with a violent crime. That was allowed under a law enacted by the Legislature in 2005, until the Minnesota Court of Appeals deemed it unconstitutional as an unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment in 2006.
"We thought it was a good law," Leslie said. "We saw it then as not very invasive. Everybody that comes through the jail has to have their fingerprints taken. We didn't think taking [a cotton] swab and putting it in their mouth was any more invasive."
Leslie said the idea of resuming DNA collection came during a meeting with sheriffs and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) officials last month.
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom recommended the collection begin again in light of the 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of a Maryland law similar to that of Minnesota's.
At least 20 other states collect DNA under the same circumstances, Leslie said.