DNA Alters Thinking on Swift Justice
Texas, other states extend deadlines to file sex cases
By Ed Timms
Originally published in The Dallas Morning News, July 30, 2001
DNA evidence is chipping away at a long-standing legal principle—a time limit for justice—in sexual assault cases.
Texas is among a growing number of states that have eliminated or extended the statute of limitations, the time prosecutors have to indict a suspect after a crime is committed, in such crimes.
Texas' new law, signed by Gov. Rick Perry in April, lengthens the statute of limitations on sexual assaults from five to 10 years and eliminates any filing deadline in sex cases in which DNA evidence is available. The measure takes effect Sept. 1. It does not apply to cases in which the statute of limitations already has expired.
The strength of DNA evidence, perhaps as close as the judicial system will ever come to a perfect witness, has challenged some of the traditional reasoning behind a statute of limitations in criminal cases.
Rep. Tony Goolsby, R-Dallas, author of the bill, said the change recognizes the trauma that sexual assault victims suffer as well as the important role of DNA evidence in criminal investigations.
"If we've wrongly convicted someone, we need to right it, and if there's an opportunity to convict someone … who's guilty, we ought to put it to them," he said.
California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Nevada and New York are among the states that have enacted similar laws, and others are expected to follow suit.
In an effort to keep sexual assault cases alive in states where a statute of limitations for sexual offenses still is in force, some prosecutors are indicting unknown suspects who are identified solely by their DNA profiles.
That strategy has been used by a handful of Texas prosecutors.
In May, a suspect identified only by DNA profile was indicted in a 1998 sexual assault in Lubbock County. DNA tests linked the same unidentified suspect to a rape in Amarillo last year.
Lubbock County District Attorney Bill Sowder applauds the measures taken by the Legislature. But just in case changing the statute of limitations in sexual assaults doesn't survive legal challenges, Mr. Sowder said, his office may continue to seek "John Doe" indictments using DNA profiles for identification as insurance.
The statute of limitations applies to the indictment, not to apprehension or trial.
The odds of identifying offenders with DNA evidence continue to improve, as more DNA profiles are collected by law enforcement agencies and added to a national database commonly referred to as CODIS (Combined DNA Index System).
Texas' prison system routinely submits blood samples for the DNA analysis from Texas inmates convicted of certain crimes. The samples are processed by the Texas Department of Public Safety laboratory and are ultimately included in the DNA database. So far, suspects in more than two dozen previously unsolved crimes in Texas have been identified from DNA obtained from convicted felons.
The state database linked prison inmate Alvin Avon Braziel Jr. to an attack on a newlywed couple in 1993 at Eastfield College. He killed Douglas White, 27, during a robbery attempt and raped his wife. Mr. Braziel was convicted of capital murder by a Dallas County jury on Wednesday. On Thursday, he was sentenced to death.
Removing the statute of limitations on sexual assaults in Texas, so far, has not generated widespread criticism from defense attorneys.
Houston attorney Edward Mallett, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said solid DNA analysis is an important contribution to the truth-finding process.
"We're amazed at the number of innocent people getting exonerated these days because of DNA testing," he said. "And I can't think of some philosophic reason that somebody should be able to avoid criminal responsibility just by the passage of time, when science makes it possible to prove their guilt."
Another law passed by the Legislature entitles inmates to seek state-paid DNA testing on evidence in their cases if the results might exonerate them. The law took effect in April.
The first person was cleared under that law this month: Calvin Edward Washington was released from prison after serving 13 years for the murder of Juanita White of Waco. A judge ordered the release after new DNA tests backed Mr. Washington's contention that blood on a shirt found where he was staying did not belong to the victim.
Historically, Texas law singled out murder and manslaughter as the only crimes so serious that no statute of limitations applied.
The philosophy behind a statute of limitations is fairness to the accused, acknowledging that passage of time can work against building a defense.
"Memories fade, evidence gets destroyed. But DNA changes that," said Sandra Guerra Thompson, a University of Houston professor of criminal law and associate dean of the university's Law Center.
The exemption of murder cases from a statute of limitations reflects that "the significance of the crime sort of overwhelms the fairness argument," said Southern Methodist University law professor Frederick C. Moss.
Advances in DNA analysis have enabled investigators to identify offenders in crimes that were committed years, even decades, previously—typically with far more certainty than older techniques such as fingerprint analysis and blood typing.
In a sexual assault case, for example, DNA material such as semen or fingernail scrapings or blood from a defense wound inflicted by the victim can conclusively establish an assailant's identity. A fingerprint may only prove that its owner was at the scene, perhaps before or after the crime.
Mr. Moss, a former prosecutor with the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C., indicated that DNA evidence at times might be less than conclusive.
"You can find DNA traces of people who are totally innocent who happen to be at the scene at another time … hair, skin, things like that," he said. "But I agree that generally, DNA can be more specific in identifying the culprit."
Scientific advances, however, aren't the only catalyst for efforts to do away with the statute of limitations on sexual assaults.
"It may be that our society is seeing sex crimes as more serious," Mr. Moss said. " I think it's a long-term effect of the birth and growth of feminism in our society."
For other crimes, the availability of DNA evidence may not be enough to do away with the statute of limitations.
"If you had DNA evidence of a bike theft, you might not want to prosecute it 20 years later," said Ms. Thompson, who served as an assistant district attorney in New York. "At some point, you just say, leave the guy alone. … But for something more serious, well, that's a different story."
DNA IN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM
Developments in Texas regarding the law and DNA:
A law passed in 1995 and updated in 1999 requires that felons convicted of certain offenses submit to DNA testing. The results are added to a database law enforcement officials use to identify suspects in unsolved crimes.
Some prosecutors have sought "John Doe" indictments against unknown suspects in sexual assault cases. The culprits are identified in the indictments by DNA profile.
A law goes into effect Sept. 1 eliminating the statute of limitations for sexual assault cases in which DNA evidence was collected.
A law took effect in April allowing inmates who contend that they have been wrongfully convicted to seek state-paid DNA testing. One person has been freed as a result of the measure.
