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National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence P R O C E E D I N G S Meeting IV Hotel Adolphus Dallas, Texas

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National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence P R O C E E D I N G S Meeting IV Hotel Adolphus Dallas, Texas February 28 - March 1, 1999 National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence P R O C E E D I N G S Meeting IV Hotel Adolphus Dallas, Texas 1 2 Contents February 28 - March 1, 1999 National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence P R O C E E D I N G S Meeting IV ........................................................................................................................................... 1 Agenda ................................................................................................................................................ 4 February 28, 1999 - Appearances ......................................................................................................... 6 Remarks by the Vice-Chair .................................................................................................................. 7 Update on Commission Business ......................................................................................................... 8 Research and Development Working Group Report ........................................................................... 12 Legal Issues Working Group Report .................................................................................................. 22 Discussion ......................................................................................................................................... 25 Post Conviction Issues Working Group Report .................................................................................. 29 Crime Scene Investigation Working Group Report............................................................................. 39 Training and Education Issues in Rural Law Enforcement.................................................................. 50 Laboratory Funding Working Group Report ...................................................................................... 59 March 1, 1999 - Appearances ............................................................................................................ 68 Presentations and Discussion on DNA Sample Collection from Arrestees and Suspects ..................... 69 The Honorable Frank Weathersbee .................................................................................................... 71 Barry Steinhardt ................................................................................................................................ 82 Mr. Harlan Levy ................................................................................................................................ 96 Commissioner Howard Safir ............................................................................................................ 115 Commission Discussion ................................................................................................................... 129 Continued Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 152 Public Comment .............................................................................................................................. 160 3 Agenda SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1999 2:00 - 2:10 Remarks by the Vice-Chair Dr. James Crow University of Wisconsin, Department of Genetics 2:10 - 2:30 Update on Commission Business Christopher H. Asplen, AUSA Executive Director 2:30 - 2:50 Research and Development Working Group Report Dr. James Crow, Chair 2:50 - 3:10 Legal Issues Working Group Report Professor Michael Smith, Chair 3:10 - 3:30 Discussion 3:30 - 4:00 Post Conviction Issues Working Group Report Judge Ronald Reinstein, Chair 4:00 - 4:15 Break 4:15 - 4:45 Crime Scene Investigation Working Group Report Chief Terrance Gainer, Chair 4:45 - 5:15 Training and Education Issues in Rural Law Enforcement Dr. Lee Colwell, Director Arkansas Criminal Justice Institute 5:15 - 5:45 Laboratory Funding Working Group Report Dr. Paul Ferrara, Chair 5:45 - 6:00 Discussion MONDAY, MARCH 1, 1999 Presentations and Discussion on DNA Sample Collection from Arrestees and Suspects 9:00 - The Honorable Frank Weathersbee 9:45 State's Attorney, Anne Arundel County, Maryland 9:45 - Barry Steinhardt 10:30 Associate Director, American Civil Liberties Union 10:30 - Break 4 10:45 10:45 - Mr. Harlan Levy 11:30 Defense Attorney, New York 11:30 - Working Lunch 12:15 12:15 - Commissioner Howard Safir 1:30 Police Commissioner, New York City Police Department 1:30 - Commission Discussion 2:30 2:30 - Break 2:45 2:45 - Continued Discussion 3:30 3:30 - Public Comment 4:00 5 February 28, 1999 - Appearances JAMES CROW, Ph.D. TERRANCE W. GAINER CHRISTOPHER H. ASPLEN MICHAEL SMITH PAUL B. FERRARA, Ph.D. AARON D. KENNARD HON. RONALD S. REINSTEIN PHILIP REILLY, M.D., J.D. NORMAN GAHN JOSEPH H. DAVIS, M.D. BARRY C. SCHECK JAN S. BASHINSKI GEORGE W. CLARKE DARRELL SANDERS JEFFREY E. THOMA LISA FORMAN, Ph.D. ROBIN WILSON LEE COLWELL, Ph.D. HARLAN A. LEVY, ESQUIRE HOWARD SAFIR BARRY STEINHARDT HON. FRANK WEATHERSBEE 6 Remarks by the Vice-Chair Dr. James Crow University of Wisconsin, Department of Genetics DR. CROW: Well, let's get this meeting underway. If it's not apparent, I'm not Justice Abrahamson. I'm substituting for her, and I'll explain why. It's not hard to explain why. Shirley -- I can't keep from calling her that, because I knew her when she was a graduate student and her husband was a post-doc in my lab -- she is up for reelection as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and I think she has rationally concluded that there are more votes in Wisconsin than there are here and that she'd better stay home and accumulate them, and if it isn't being too partisan, I'd like to announce that I hope she wins. Welcome to everybody. I'd like to welcome each of you individually, but I don't know all the names, and I want to get the program underway. Well, that constitutes my introductory remarks, which were allotted 15 minutes, and if everybody else can stay on the schedule that well, this will be a successful meeting. Chris, it's yours. 7 Update on Commission Business Christopher H. Asplen, AUSA Executive Director MR. ASPLEN: Thank you. I can now bring that progress to a screeching halt. A couple of matters regarding some Commission business but also kind of where we hope to go with this particular meeting today and tomorrow, what our thought was in designing it the way we did, and also some looking towards the future, some plans for the future of the Commission. First of all, I'd like to take the opportunity to introduce a few folks who are with us, who are in the audience, if you will, the public section. Kim Herd is the Director of the DNA unit for the American Prosecutors Research Institute, which is the training and education affiliate, if you will, of the National District Attorneys Association. We appreciate her presence here, and input, as we go through this process. Also, Clay Strange is with us. Clay is a prosecutor in Austin. Clay is the former Director of the DNA unit at APRI and is also a member of the crime scene working group for the Commission. Mr. Frank Weathersbee is also here. He has come in. He's going to be speaking to us tomorrow and involved in that discussion. He's the State's Attorney from Anne Arundel County, the Annapolis area of Maryland. I see Dr. Rau there. Dr. Lee Colwell, you'll be hearing from later on today, is the Director of the Arkansas Criminal Justice Institute and will be speaking to us this afternoon about rural law enforcement issues. We also have Mr. Ed Koch, who is here from -- as a representative from Mayor Schmoke's office in Baltimore, as Mayor Schmoke could not attend today. Also, as I understand it, Phil Reilly will be here, albeit it a little bit late. He had a speaking engagement in Bethesda this morning. And I know that Judge Reinstein is here. I know that Mr. Scheck is here. And other folks will be joining us shortly. So, those introductions having been done, let me go to today's meeting and carry through to tomorrow. The hope in -- the hope of the staff today is that we use the opportunity to listen to the working group reports and identify the issues that they're handling and to use the Commission to really make sure that the working groups are really traveling down the paths that the Commission wants them to go, if you will, and to use the Commission to provide some guidance to them, see if there are any issues that the Commission would like those working groups to address, and then to hopefully identify other issues and identify some other folks that we should bring into this process. 8 It's the nature of the structure that we've created here with the Commission and then the working groups that we have to revisit them with the full Commission occasionally and really make sure that the working groups are doing the work of the full Commission. That being said, the fact that the laboratory funding issues working group report is not listed on the agenda, as I'm sure you all noticed, is not an indication of the extent to which we don't want input on that matter. It is purely a typographical error on my part, and we will fit a discussion in on where that group is going with Paul today or tomorrow, depending upon how the schedule goes. We've talked about, at our last meeting, some crucial issues, particularly as they pertain to the collection of database samples at our last meeting in -- we had a meeting at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, a meeting in Florida. So, we'll talk about that a little bit today, also. What we really need to do, quite frankly, is --
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