Gov. Susana Martinez signed an expansion of Katie’s Law into legislation Wednesday at a Rotary Club meeting in Carlsbad.
The law requires DNA samples be taken for felony arrests.
“For five years, we have seen that Katie’s Law has achieved real results,” Martinez said in a statement. “Crimes solved, crimes prevented and lives saved. Now, we are able to do even more. Requiring a DNA sample from anyone arrested for a felony crime will make this important law even more effective.”
As the district attorney in Doña Ana County, Martinez lobbied for the passage of the original Katie’s Law. The original law required a DNA sample in the case of violent felonies, such as rape and murder.
With the expansion, DNA samples will be processed in the case of a felony warrant, a probable cause hearing ordered from a magistrate court judge or when the suspect doesn’t show up for a bail or bond hearing.
State Rep. Al Park (D-Albuquerque) said he worked with Sen. Vernon Asbill (R-Carlsbad) the past year on the expansion. Sen. Mary Kay Papen (D-Las Cruces) and Asbill sponsored the bill, and the House and the Senate voted to amend Katie’s Law with bi-partisan support.
“With the net being broader, we’re going to capture people who have committed crimes in the past,” Park said.
Katie’s Law was passed in 2006, as a result of the brutal rape and murder of Katie Sepich in 2004. Sepich’s boyfriend was exonerated because she had DNA beneath her fingernails that did not match her boyfriend’s. Because of DNA evidence, Gabriel Avila was convicted of the murder shortly after being arrested for burglary.
Park said comprehensive DNA testing is intended to convict a higher percentage of criminals. He said the expansion will exonerate the innocent, capture the guilty and protect victims.
“We’re going to make sure that people are fully held accountable, and they’re not going to be out there committing crimes, meaning that the public’s going to be protected,” Park said.
Since 2006, when the original Katie’s Law was passed, 23 other states have passed similar laws. The expansion of this bill makes New Mexico criminal DNA databases one of the most rigorous in the country, Park said.
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