The US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday in a Maryland case on whether to restrict police use of DNA to solve crimes.
The justices will rule on the common police practice of taking DNA tests from individuals who have been arrested but not convicted to see if they are connected to unsolved crimes.
At the center of the case is a Salisbury man, Alonzo Jay King, whose DNA was taken when he was arrested by police in 2009 on assault charges.
The DNA connected him to a 2003 rape of a Wicomico County woman at gunpoint.
King appealed his rape conviction challenging the key DNA evidence.
The Baltimore Sun reports that the Office of Public Defender contends taking DNA from a person before he or she is convicted of a crime constitutes violation of the constitution’s protection against a warrantless search.
Expanding the DNA data base has been one of Governor Martin O’Malley’s key legislative achievements.
Last April the state’s highest court ruled the practice unconstitutional but Chief Justice John Roberts issued a stay in the case.
