If you are charged with a serious crime decades after it allegedly occurred, you may wonder how law enforcement identified you. In Arizona, courts allow DNA hits from government databases to be used in connecting people to cold cases. While this evidence can be robust, it also raises concerns about prejudice, assumptions, and whether it implies a history of criminal activity. In a recent ruling, the Arizona Court of Appeals held that DNA evidence from a database may be introduced at trial if it is relevant and not unduly prejudicial.
In State v. Vergara, the person on trial was charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. These charges stemmed from an incident that took place nearly 30 years before law enforcement made an arrest. The charges came after a DNA profile submitted to a database produced a match. At trial, the defense objected to the use of any testimony suggesting the DNA came from a criminal database, arguing that it implied a prior record and prejudiced the jury. The trial court allowed the testimony, and the appeals court upheld that decision.
DNA Hits Can Be Used to Explain How Police Identify Suspects
The appeals court emphasized that prosecutors may explain how law enforcement came to suspect someone, especially when a long time has passed since the alleged offense. In this case, the match between DNA evidence from the original crime scene and a DNA profile in a database helped explain the investigative process. The court ruled that the testimony helped rebut the theory that officers had unfairly targeted the wrong person without justification.