Move to Expand NY DNA Database: AP writer Michael Virtanen reports that New York Governor David Paterson has proposed requiring DNA testing of people who commit low level misdemeanors to expand the state's database. While the NY ACLU is concerned about privacy rights, both the state Assembly and Senate are considering laws to make more DNA profiles available to law enforcement. According to Paterson, "DNA is the most powerful tool ever discovered to solve crimes, prevent crimes and exonerate the innocent, but remarkably in New York State we are still collecting DNA from only 46 percent of the criminals convicted."
CA Rape Shield Law Upheld: In a decision announced Monday, the California Supreme Court unanimously rejected a defendant's claim that evidence of a rape victim's prior sexual activity should have been introduced at his trial. SF Chronicle writer Bob Egelko reports that Court declined to overturn Danny Fontana's conviction for raping a 19-year-old woman, noting that the state's rape shield law prohibits a victim's sexual history to be introduced unless it can be used to attack the credibility of the complaining witness. Fontana, a registered sex offender, claimed that the woman had solicited him. Writing for the Court, Associate Justice Marvin Baxter noted that "for some jurors, the fact that the victim has engaged in sexual conduct outside the marriage automatically suggests a receptivity to the activity or is proof that the victim got what she deserved." The Court found that the trial judge erred by not holding a pretrial hearing to consider Fontana's claim but held that the testimony at trial and at a later hearing were sufficient to render that procedural error harmless.
CA Rape Shield Law Upheld: In a decision announced Monday, the California Supreme Court unanimously rejected a defendant's claim that evidence of a rape victim's prior sexual activity should have been introduced at his trial. SF Chronicle writer Bob Egelko reports that Court declined to overturn Danny Fontana's conviction for raping a 19-year-old woman, noting that the state's rape shield law prohibits a victim's sexual history to be introduced unless it can be used to attack the credibility of the complaining witness. Fontana, a registered sex offender, claimed that the woman had solicited him. Writing for the Court, Associate Justice Marvin Baxter noted that "for some jurors, the fact that the victim has engaged in sexual conduct outside the marriage automatically suggests a receptivity to the activity or is proof that the victim got what she deserved." The Court found that the trial judge erred by not holding a pretrial hearing to consider Fontana's claim but held that the testimony at trial and at a later hearing were sufficient to render that procedural error harmless.
Leave a comment