Katie's Law mom urges passage of Miloscia DNA bill to save lives

Feb. 3, 2009

OLYMPIA—Some House members wept openly as Jayann Sepich described the brutal murder of her daughter and how "Katie's Law" could spare other mothers the agony she has suffered. Sepich came from New Mexico to tell the House Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness Committee that legislation proposed by Rep. Mark Miloscia (D-Federal Way) would save lives, prevent rapes and other brutal crimes, and exonerate the innocent.

"You have the opportunity to recommend legislation that has the power not only to solve crimes, but to prevent crimes and save lives," Sepich testified.

Miloscia's legislation (House Bill 1382) seeks to expand the state DNA database by taking DNA samples from persons arrested for felonies and other serious crimes.

"DNA helps us to protect the innocent and catch the bad guy," Miloscia said. Officer Stan McCall, Dayshift Commander for the Federal Way Police Department, supported Miloscia's bill at the Tuesday hearing.

"DNA is a very valuable tool for law enforcement," McCall testified. "It enables us to compile evidence and identify suspects responsible for crimes, but it also enables us to clear suspects."

As an example of how Miloscia's proposed law would save lives, Sepich showed that if the bill had been enacted in 2005 it would have prevented Anthony Dias from committing at least 8 brutal rapes in Washington state--including rapes of two sisters, ages 13 and 15, as their mother, bound and gagged, was helpless to protect her daughters.

Dias' victims included two women who were raped in Federal Way in Oct., 2005 while three men in the residence were tied up.

Sepich is leading a national movement to pass Katie's Law and gather DNA samples on felony arrests. To date, 15 states and the federal government collect DNA samples on arrest for felonies or other specified crimes.

The Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee also heard opposition to the bill from defense attorneys and the ACLU, who expressed concern that collecting DNA on arrest would be an invasion of privacy and the information could be misused by local police departments.

But Sepich argued that only a tiny segment of a person's DNA is digitized for DNA databases, and that multiple layers of technical and legal safeguards prevent the information from being misused.

Under questioning from committee Chair Chris Hurst (D-Enumclaw), opponents to the legislation were unable to name any instances in U.S. history where information in a DNA database has been misused by law enforcement officers or others.

Miloscia said he is working with Democratic and Republican lawmakers to fine tune the legislation as it moves through the process.

Sepich closed her testimony by asking lawmakers to think of the lives that could be saved by Miloscia's bill.

"If Washington State does not pass this legislation, we will know the names, the faces, the stories of victims that could have been saved," Sepich said. "If you do pass this law, we will never know the names of those who will not become victims. We will never know. And that is our blessing."

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