Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 12, 1990                   TAG: 9007120481
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BLOOD TAKEN FROM CONVICTS MAY SOLVE CRIMES LATER

When the data bank in Richmond is in full operation, authorities across the state will be able to use it to check the genetic code unique to everyone when police find blood, skin, hair or semen at a crime scene.

Officials say Virginia is the first state to set up the catalog system, and that only the FBI has a similar program.

"It's one of the greatest scientific advances since fingerprints," said Dr. Paul Ferrara, director of the Virginia Bureau of Forensic Science, who took the idea to the General Assembly three years ago.

When DNA analysis began in Virginia last year, forensic specialists only could test DNA found at the scene of a crime to see if it matched the suspect they had in custody. Because of the limitation of the state's laboratory, only cases in which violent crimes were committed were tested.

In the 100 tests the state's forensic laboratories performed last year, 75 people were convicted or pleaded guilty, Ferrara said. In the 25 other cases, it was determined the suspect in custody was not the person who committed the crime, he said.

The difference in the state's new data bank is that police no longer will need a suspect to do a DNA check. All they will have to do is check the DNA they have uncovered to see if it matches any of the convicted felons whose DNA types have been entered in the data bank.

State officials began taking blood samples from felons this month. No one convicted of a felony on or after July 1, 1990, will be able to leave custody without first giving a blood sample.

The Bureau of Forensic Science should start receiving about 1,000 samples a month from across the state, Ferrara said. Forensic scientists will take the blood vials that are delivered, dab the blood on a piece of cloth and freeze it until a DNA analysis of the sample can be done.

Ferrara said he expects the state will start doing the analyses by the end of the year. The data bank itself probably will not be in operation for 12 to 18 months after that.

DNA matching began as a way to determine paternity. But in the last 10 years, the science has found its way into criminal prosecutions. Police consider DNA matching to be invaluable, going beyond the limits of conventional serology or blood typing.

The value of DNA analysis to police is that unlike traditional fingerprints that tie a suspect to the scene of a crime, DNA can link someone to the crime itself, particularly in rape cases.

"It is much more powerful than fingerprints," Ferrara said. "It can be compared beyond a reasonable doubt."