Katie's Law Issues Katie's Law A Waste?
By Monica Balderrama
KFOX-TV (NM)
December 29, 2006
The law named after the slain NMSU graduate, Katie Sepich, will go into affect January 1, but it looks like it won't make a big difference unless the law is properly funded.
Katie's Law states that anyone arrested, as supposed to anyone convicted as stated in the current law, of a violent crime will provide a DNA sample to place in a national database. In essence, the pool of DNA samples will grow.
The Dona Ana Third Judicial District Attorney, Susana Martinez said Katie's Law will only create a greater back log at crime labs.
The parents of NMSU graduate Katie Sepich were stunned to hear that through a national DNA database called CODUS, there was a match. That match lead investigators to 27-year-old Gabriel Avila.
"But I'm incredibly grateful for the DNA system, CODUS, because that's what finally solved the case," said Jayann Sepich.
CODUS includes the DNA markers of every person who has been convicted of a felony offense in New Mexico. Avila is one of those convicts. He was convicted for aggravated burglary 15 months after investigators believe he murdered Katie.
The announcement of a convict's confession about Katie's murder came as good news for the community, but it also came late.
"In 2004, a sample should have been taken -- which is a swabbing of the inside of the cheek -- should have been taken and submitted for processing. They did not take his DNA until just two months ago," said Martinez.
Martinez believes there's a backlog in New Mexico crime laboratories and relief is not coming. Instead more work is coming.
"Can Katie's law going into affect January 1 cause a greater back log? Yes. It absolutely can," said Martinez.
Katie's law will increase the number of people submitting to DNA tests. Martinez said something can be done, it's just up to the same people who passed Katie's law.
"The problem is going to be if laws are being imposed and enforced then there has to be some financial backing to allow for the proper number of analysts to be at the crime lab to process the DNA and up loaded into CODUS," said Martinez.
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