Editorial: Expanding DNA’s use

Wednesday, April 11, 2007 | 7:34 a.m.

Current Nevada law allows DNA samples to be collected only from individuals convicted of violent felonies. But not all violent crimes are committed by those felons. Such acts are also committed by others, including individuals previously convicted of lesser felonies, such as property crimes.

Just last week, Sergio Hugo Hernandez, 30, was arrested in connection with the rape of a 13-year-old Henderson girl, based on the match off the victim's clothes with a DNA sample taken from Hernandez after a burglary conviction in California, the Associated Press reported.

We are glad, then, that the Nevada Assembly unanimously voted Monday to approve Assembly Bill 92, which would require DNA samples to be taken from all convicted felons in this state. We urge the state Senate and the governor to approve AB92 as well.

Let's not forget, though, that DNA samples cut both ways. The same day the Assembly passed AB92, a judge in Dallas recommended that a man who spent 10 years in prison for a gang rape should be exonerated because a prosecutor now admits that the man, James Curtis Giles, did not commit the crime. AP reported that Giles could become the 13th Dallas area man to be exonerated since 2001 because of DNA evidence.

Just as DNA evidence helps solve crimes, it also should be used whenever possible by the criminal justice system to make sure the innocent aren't kept behind bars.