IAPE Evidence Blog

The Raw Story, rawstory.com
BYLINE: Daniel Tencer
Link to Article

CA, CO, KS, NY, MO & WI

In their effort to beat the statutes of lim­i­ta­tions that pre­vent peo­ple from being charged with a crime after a cer­tain amount of time has passed, pros­e­cu­tors in some parts of the US are try­ing a new tac­tic: They’re charg­ing half-eaten food, saliva-crusted glasses or other inan­i­mate objects with the crime.

That’s because pros­e­cu­tors now have DNA evi­dence as a way to get around statutes of lim­i­ta­tions. One way to make sure a crim­i­nal doesn’t get away by hid­ing long enough is to sim­ply charge the DNA itself, and wait until the DNA is matched to an actual person.

Laura Bauer of the Kansas City Star reported Mon­day that pros­e­cu­tors “in a few pock­ets of the coun­try” have begun issu­ing “John Doe” arrest war­rants that iden­tify only a person’s unique DNA sig­na­ture. Once the arrest war­rant on the DNA is in place, the statute of lim­i­ta­tions on the applic­a­ble crime will no longer run out. Bauer reports:

Since 2002, Jack­son County [Mis­souri] pros­e­cu­tors have filed 28 John Doe complaints.…

When­ever a bur­glary, rob­bery or van­dal­ism with DNA evi­dence is near­ing its statute of lim­i­ta­tion, police alert [pros­e­cu­tor Ted] Hunt’s office, and pros­e­cu­tors file a no-name charge.

By fil­ing these com­plaints, and charg­ing the DNA instead of a named sus­pect, pros­e­cu­tors put cases on hold until they know whose genetic fin­ger­print they charged. These cases oth­er­wise wouldn’t be solved within the statute of lim­i­ta­tions, and the sus­pects would be let off scot-free.

But it may be more than “a few pock­ets of the coun­try” that are try­ing out this tech­nique. Accord­ing to the Web site of the dis­trict attor­ney for Den­ver, Col­orado, “John Doe” DNA war­rants have been used at least in Cal­i­for­nia, Col­orado, Kansas, New York and Wisconsin.

“We may have 2 1/2 years left” on the statue of lim­i­ta­tions, Den­ver Dis­trict Attor­ney Mitchell Mor­ris­sey told the KC Star. “It doesn’t mat­ter, we file the case. … We freeze every­thing in place. … Oth­er­wise, the bad guy gets away.”

Last month, the Supreme Court of Cal­i­for­nia ruled that no-name war­rants based on DNA evi­dence are allowed under state laws. Accord­ing to Kelly Lowen­berg at the Stan­ford Law School blog, the court ruled that DNA-based war­rants are spe­cific enough to be con­sti­tu­tional, and that they do “stop the clock run­ning” on statutes of limitations.

But while this new crime-fighting tech­nique may be use­ful to pros­e­cu­tors, it raises ques­tions about the rel­e­vance of statutes of lim­i­ta­tions on crimes in the age of DNA. Defense attor­neys argue that stat­ues of lim­i­ta­tions exist for a rea­son — if a per­son is charged with a crime after too long a period, it may be dif­fi­cult to defend against the charges. “People’s mem­o­ries fade” and “wit­nesses move and can’t be found,” Bauer reports at the KC Star.

“If a defen­dant in a prop­erty crime is arrested 20 years after the fact, based on his DNA, he’s not able to defend him­self effec­tively,” Kansas City defense attor­ney J.R. Hobbs told the KC Star.

And the like­li­hood of the long arm of the law reach­ing even fur­ther grows as DNA data­bases in the US and around the world expand.

Last year, the FBI announced it would start col­lect­ing DNA sam­ples from peo­ple who weren’t charged with a crime. Thus far, only peo­ple charged with an offense had their DNA taken. It’s esti­mated that the FBI’s data­base will grow at a rate of 1.2 mil­lion DNA pro­files per year from now on, com­pared to a growth rate of about 80,000 per year prior to the new pol­icy. The FBI already has an esti­mated 6.7 mil­lion DNA pro­files on record.

Some civil rights advo­cates worry about the impli­ca­tions to pri­vacy and per­sonal free­dom from a grow­ing reliance among gov­ern­ments on DNA evi­dence. For instance, in the United King­dom it was alleged last year that police forces were ran­domly arrest­ing peo­ple sim­ply to get their DNA on to the books. Some accused British police forces of racial pro­fil­ing in that effort, not­ing that three-quarters of Britain’s black males under the age of 35 are now on the DNA database.

The KC Star’s Bauer notes that DNA is now being used in a much wider array of crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tions than has been the case in the past. While DNA test­ing was usu­ally reserved for mur­der and rape inves­ti­ga­tions, its easy avail­abil­ity today means it is being used in rob­bery and even van­dal­ism cases.

Den­ver police are so aggres­sive that they worked on a case in which a car win­dow was bro­ken and just $1.40 in coins were stolen.

A drop of blood was found on a car seat. When no match came up in the data­base, they went even fur­ther, check­ing for near-matches in what’s called a “famil­ial DNA” search.

The name of a con­victed felon came up. In the end, the felon’s brother was arrested.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment“
www.IAPE.org

Orange County Reg­is­ter (Cal­i­for­nia)
BYLINE: ANDREW GALVIN and, ELYSSE JAMES

Tustin, CA

Ali Achekzai, 32, for­merly of Ladera Ranch, is held based on a DNA match.

An Afghan man wanted in rape cases in Orange and San Diego coun­ties has been arrested in Aus­tria based upon a DNA match, in what is believed to be the first inter­na­tional DNA hit for Cal­i­for­nia law enforce­ment, offi­cials said Thursday.

Ali Achekzai, 32, for­merly of Ladera Ranch, was arrested near Salzburg on Tues­day, said Orange County Dis­trict Attor­ney Tony Rackauckas.

Achekzai is accused of rap­ing two women in 2004, one in Tustin and the other in San Diego. He also is charged with intent to com­mit a sex­ual offense in a 2002 inci­dent in Laguna Beach.

Offi­cials believe Achekzai moved to Canada and later Aus­tria, where he was accused of rape in 2009. DNA from the Aus­tria case matched sam­ples taken after the Tustin and San Diego rapes, pros­e­cu­tors said. The Aus­tria case was even­tu­ally dismissed.

Achekzai will now face extra­di­tion pro­ceed­ings in Aus­tria. The Dis­trict Attorney’s Office intends to pros­e­cute him in Orange County for the Tustin, Laguna Beach and San Diego crimes. If con­victed, he faces a max­i­mum sen­tence of 53 years and four months to life in prison, pros­e­cu­tors said.

Pros­e­cu­tors say that on Jan. 31, 2004, Achekzai met a 21-year-old woman at a night­club in Laguna Beach. Shortly after 2 a.m., the woman noticed he was fol­low­ing her in his car as she was dri­ving on Jam­boree Road toward Tustin. He con­tin­ued to fol­low her as she drove around attempt­ing to lose him, pros­e­cu­tors said. He then pulled up near her in his car and yelled for her to pull over, say­ing he wanted to talk to her about some­thing important.

The woman parked at a fast-food restau­rant and Achekzai got into her car, using the pre­tense that he wanted to warn her about another man she met at the night­club, pros­e­cu­tors said. The woman became scared, got out of the car and tried to run away. Achekzai is accused of chas­ing and catch­ing her and lead­ing her back to the car as she cried and strug­gled. The rape occurred in the car, pros­e­cu­tors said.

After the woman reported the rape to police, semen was col­lected by the Orange County Sheriff’s Depart­ment crime lab, Sher­iff San­dra Hutchens said. Tustin police inves­ti­gated the case.

On May 3, 2004, Achekzai met two women while at a San Diego night­club while with his male cousin, pros­e­cu­tors said. Late that night, the two men and two women went to Mount Soledad near La Jolla, where Achekzai iso­lated a 21-year-old woman from the oth­ers by invit­ing her to take a walk through a dark park, pros­e­cu­tors said. Once he had her alone, he is accused of grab­bing her and pulling her to the ground, beat­ing her and rap­ing her.

When Achekzai and the woman returned to the car, she imme­di­ately told her friend she had been raped, pros­e­cu­tors said. Achekzai became angry and punched her in the mouth, knock­ing out her front tooth. The woman reported the rape to police and DNA was col­lected from her cloth­ing. San Diego police inves­ti­gated this case.

The vic­tim in the San Diego rape was able to iden­tify Achekzai from a photo line-up, said Tustin Police Chief Scott Jordan.

In July 2004, the two rapes were linked by DNA evi­dence. Charges were filed against Achekzai for both rapes in Octo­ber 2004.

Prior to being charged for the rapes, Achekzai fled the coun­try, accord­ing to pros­e­cu­tors. He is believed to have changed his name sev­eral times and is sus­pected of hav­ing lived in Afghanistan, Ger­man, Canada, Aus­tria and Eng­land, accord­ing to prosecutors.

The case went cold for sev­eral years. About six months ago, after a reor­ga­ni­za­tion at the Tustin Police Depart­ment, Detec­tive Ryan Coe began inves­ti­gat­ing the Tustin rape, he said.

Coe learned that the sus­pect might be in Canada, so he worked with the sheriff’s crime lab, the Cal­i­for­nia Depart­ment of Jus­tice and the FBI to sub­mit Achekzai’s DNA to the Inter­na­tional Crim­i­nal Police Orga­ni­za­tion, or Inter­pol, which dis­sem­i­nated it to its mem­ber coun­tries, includ­ing Austria.

Achekzai was arrested on sus­pi­cion of rape in Aus­tria in April 2009. Although that case was later dis­missed, Inter­pol matched the DNA from the alleged Tustin and San Diego rapes with DNA from the Aus­trian case.

Achekzai was arrested on Jan. 26 by the Salzburg Crim­i­nal Inves­tiga­tive Divi­sion at the Hotel Unter­brunn in the Aus­trian town of Neukirchen am Grossvenediger.

Aus­trian offi­cials wouldn’t have released Achekzai if they had the DNA evi­dence from Cal­i­for­nia, Jor­dan said.

Tustin police are work­ing with other depart­ments to solve more cold cases. In Decem­ber, offi­cers used DNA evi­dence to iden­tify and arrest two Los Ange­les gang mem­bers as sus­pects in an aggres­sive 2004 bank rob­bery at Citibank in Tustin.

In the Laguna Beach case, Achekzai is accused of get­ting into a lim­ou­sine with four other peo­ple after leav­ing a night­club on Oct. 26, 2002. After one of the women fell asleep, Achekzai removed her pants, pros­e­cu­tors said. She awoke up to find him fondling her breasts, pros­e­cu­tors said. He then swore at her and told her to shut up as she screamed, pros­e­cu­tors said.

Achekzai, an Afghan cit­i­zen, came to the United States for asy­lum in 2001.

He pleaded guilty on Jan. 14, 2002, to dri­ving under the influ­ence of alco­hol, dri­ving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 per­cent or more and dri­ving with­out a valid driver’s license, accord­ing to Orange County court records. He was sen­tenced to three years’ pro­ba­tion, which ended Jan. 14, 2005, $1,054 in fines and 90 days of license restriction.

714 – 704-3705 or agalvin@ocregister.com

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment“
www.IAPE.org

The Bis­marck Tribune

San Fran­cisco, CA

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Cal­i­for­nia Supreme Court has autho­rized so-called “John Doe” arrest war­rants that con­tain only a DNA pro­file of an unknown suspect.

Police agen­cies are increas­ingly using no-name war­rants to get around statute-of-limitation issues. DNA col­lected from a crime scene is described in the war­rant and when a match is made, the sus­pect can be arrested even decades later.

The state high court on Mon­day upheld the rape con­vic­tion of Paul Robin­son, who was arrested a month after the six-year statute of lim­i­ta­tions expired on the case. The jus­tices, in a 5 – 2 deci­sion, said an arrest war­rant with­out Robinson’s name but with his DNA pro­file issued before the expi­ra­tion is valid.

The court ruled that a DNA pro­file is spe­cific enough to jus­tify an arrest warrant.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment“
www.IAPE.org