Changing How Maryland Collects DNA

On April 24th, Maryland's high court ruled that parts of a 2008 law allowing police officers to collect DNA samples at the time of arrest is unconstitutional. The court ruled on Alonzo Jay King Jr. versus State of Maryland.

King, Jr. was arrested in 2009 on assault charges, police collected a sample of his DNA, which was then entered into the Maryland statewide DNA database. While King Jr. assault trial was pending, his DNA was found to match evidence from an unsolved 2003 rape. King was then convicted of the rape charge, and sentenced to life in prison. The court reversed that conviction, saying it violated King's Fourth Amendment search and seizure rights.

Read the article and listen to Sheilah Kast radio show with Lisa Hurst from DNAResource.com about the ruling here.