Maryland’s DNA law was on display at the US Supreme Court yesterday with the Justices often interrupting the lawyers in a case that could have national implications.
The law allows Maryland police to take DNA samples of those who have been arrested but not convicted that would tell them if the individual could have been involved in other crimes.
Justice Antonin Scalia questioned Maryland Chief Deputy Attorney General Katherine Winfree if the purpose of taking the genetic material was to identify future criminals.
Winfree replied that the information could be used to determine the bail for a person charged with a crime.
But Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted that it took months for the match to be made in the case.
The defendant is Alonzo Jay King, a resident of Salisbury and Delmar.
He had his DNA taken during a 2009 arrest and it was matched to an unrelated unsolved 2003 rape…for which he was later convicted.
Meanwhile, when pressed King’s attorney, Kannon Shanmugam, argued that while law enforcement has an interest in finding out if someone has committed other crimes they should have to go through a separate process to do that.
