By Bill Lindelof
blindelof@sacbee.com
The state DNA data bank has reached 12,000 crime scene matches to violent offenders and other suspects, according to the California Attorney General's office.
Those matches have led to the convictions of thousands of convictions of rapists, murderers and kidnappers, a news release states.
On average, the data bank gets 300 matches a month. In March, the data bank had 405, a record.
The data bank, in existence since 1994, has more than 1.5 million DNA samples.
Voter-approved Proposition 69 in 2004 required all defendants convicted of a felony to submit a DNA sample. On Jan. 1, 2009 that requirement was extended to all adults arrested on felony charges.
Each day, law enforcement officers submit DNA evidence to a state Department of Justice crime lab or local labs to identify suspects.
The release gave this list of notable recent cases where DNA evidence has played a part in leading to a suspect:
- In February, John Gardner III, a convicted sex offender, was arrested on suspicion of rape and homicide in the disappearance of 17-year-old Chelsea King. The high school student was found in a shallow grave in a San Diego park.
- In January, David Joseph Carpenter, a Death Row inmate known as the Trailside Killer, was tied by DNA evidence to the 1979 killing of Mary Bennet. Bennet was stabbed to death in San Francisco.
Call The Bee's Bill Lindelof, (916) 321-1079.
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