WSU Study Finds DNA Tests Are Underused

By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOSAssociated Press Writer PULLMAN (AP) – Ophelia McKnight was last seen alive on Jan. 5, 1988, in downtown Seattle. Her body was found a month later. In June, 17 years after the crime, DNA evidence prompted her killer, 47-year old Joseph Tice, to confess. Such outcomes could be much more common, but a new study by researchers at Washington State University found that forensic DNA analysis is woefully underused in the United States. The study estimated that 250,000 unsolved rapes and homicides in the United States since 1982, more than half of such crimes, have yet to be subjected to DNA testing. “The effectiveness of forensic DNA has created a tremendous testing demand that is not met by the available supply,” said Travis Pratt, a criminal justice professor at WSU. The reasons for low usage include lack of money, trained personnel and other resources to do the complicated tests. The survey also found that some law enforcement agencies were reluctant to take and store DNA evidence, and did not think it was valuable until after a suspect had already been identified. The study used information provided by law enforcement and forensic laboratories to reach its conclusions. The situation in Washington appears better than it is nationwide, said Lynn McIntyre, who runs the Seattle crime lab of the Washington State Patrol. Washington also performs DNA tests at crime labs in Spokane, Tacoma and Marysville, and plans to open a fifth lab in Vancouver, Wash., next year, she said. The state has a backlog of about 900 cases needing DNA tests, about 130 of those are more than a year old, she said. “We do not have three semis full of rape kits sitting out back,” McIntyre said. “But it’s far more than I’d like.” The Legislature just approved funding for five additional DNA testers, but it will take some time to hire and train them,” McIntyre said, predicting the backlog would remain in place for several more years. Washington state crime labs receive about 172 cases requiring DNA tests each month. An average DNA test requires about 17 hours to perform, with homicide cases taking longer, she said. Tice was already in prison on unrelated rape and burglary convictions when DNA evidence implicated him in McKnight’s death. The King County Prosecutor’s Office said Tice tried to kill himself by cutting his own throat shortly after being confronted with the evidence in April 2004. Tice was on parole when he killed McKnight, who had been working as a prostitute, but apparently had not been considered a suspect at the time. In 2004, a State Patrol scientist matched Tice’s DNA to that of evidence collected from McKnight`s body and preserved. Tice could spend the next 40 years in prison, and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 22. Groups like the Innocence Project, which specializes in using DNA evidence to exonerate people who have been wrongfully convicted of major crimes, are pushing for greater use of the technology. “If performed correctly, DNA testing becomes a powerful and impartial tool,” the Innocence Project said on its web site. “The chances of convicting an innocent person … is greatly diminished.” The WSU study was conducted by Pratt, Michael J. Gaffney and Nicholas P. Lovrich, faculty members of the WSU Department of Political Science/Criminal Justice, and Charles L. Johnson, a graduate doctoral candidate. Gaffney said the study was commissioned by a Tacoma law firm _ Smith Alling Lane, using a grant from the National Institute of Justice, a government research agency. The professors gathered numbers from 120 crime labs and about 3,400 law enforcement agencies, from all 50 states. Expanding DNA testing will require a large infusion of cash, but the study did not estimate how much. Also, some law enforcement agencies still are reluctant to use DNA testing, because it is expensive and requires more training, Gaffney said. “We heard from agencies that had never submitted a DNA sample for testing,” Gaffney said. The researchers found that most law enforcement agencies continue to view DNA evidence as supplemental evidence, more useful to prosecutors in obtaining a conviction than to investigators in identifying the perpetrator. Many law enforcement agencies were unaware of the existence of the national DNA database, the Combined DNA Index System, which means that they don’t need a specific suspect in order to test DNA, the study found. The study is slated for publication in an upcoming issue of the journal “Criminal Justice Policy Review.” he report also concluded federal, state and local governments should consider spending more on DNA testing.