Nevada Supreme Court backs DNA testing

Tuesday, March 14, 2000 | 11:25 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A 1997 law that requires DNA testing of those convicted of certain crimes is constitutional and does not violate a person's right against unreasonable search and seizure, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The court said the law does not "violate the Fourth Amendment because the state's interest in solving crimes outweighs both the convict's diminished expectation of privacy and the minimally intrusive nature of the blood draw."

The court said DNA is a "dramatic new tool that can be used to accurately identify a criminal suspect attempting to conceal his identity."

The unanimous decision said, "... because of the high rate of recidivism among sexual and violent offenders, and because investigations of violent and sexual crimes are more likely to yield evidence from which DNA can be derived, compilation of DNA samples from violent and sexual offenders furthers the legislative purpose of solving future crimes."

The case the court ruled on involved Melvin T. Gaines, convicted in Las Vegas of two counts of burglary and one count of forgery. District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski ordered Gaines to undergo DNA genetic testing with the results kept in a database to check against future crimes.

Gaines claimed the DNA testing law applies only to sexual crimes, but the court said the Legislature expanded the law to numerous nonsexual offenses, such as murder, mayhem, battery, elder abuse, home invasion and burglary.

Gaines' lawyers also argued the law violates his right to due process and to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.

In another case Monday, the court ruled that a criminal defendant does not have a constitutional right to present the results of a polygraph examination at his trial.

The court, in a unanimous opinion written by Justice Bill Maupin, said certain conditions must be met before the lie detector results can be admitted into evidence.

There must be a written agreement with the prosecution, the defendant and his attorney before the test.