Voice of OC (https://voiceofoc.org/tag/dna/)
The move to put the crime lab scientists under a law enforcement agency directly contradicts the national best practices Sheriff Don Barnes and DA Todd Spitzer cited to justify the change.
The year-end meeting featured goodbyes to supervisors Todd Spitzer and Shawn Nelson, criticism of the all supervisors over the deaths of more than 200 homeless people this year, and questions from the incoming DA about wiretapping and alleged conflicts of interest related to a contractor hired by the outgoing district attorney and illegal surveillance of elected officials by a police union’s law firm.
The county Board of Supervisors indicated this week that they’ll launch a probe into the DA’s controversial DNA collection program.
Vote was unanimous, but two supervisors questioned numbers
presented by District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.
District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and his former protege, Todd
Spitzer, lash out at each other in dueling news conferences in what
could be the beginning of a drawn-out political battle.
Two county supervisors and the grand jury hold three separate opinions on who should be responsible for the lab.
While DNA technology has revolutionized crime fighting, some
scientists at the forefront of DNA testing are pushing to get out
from under the control of prosecutors.
The Orange County district attorney’s ‘spit and acquit’ program
has amassed tens of thousands of DNA samples from misdemeanor
offenders. But there are questions about how the DA gets the
samples and their use.