MA- The state police forensic lab in Maynard is central facility for law enforcement DNA technology in Massachusetts

7-20-2009 Massachusetts:

MAYNARD - Paul E. Petrino stepped into the locked second-floor, humidity-controlled room in the Massachusetts State Police Forensic Technology Center in Maynard.

There, the temperature is kept at 66 degrees and more than 82,000 sealed and numbered-coded envelopes line the shelves.

The envelopes are a key component in the state’s DNA database, where blood samples taken from criminals are stored.

“They are assigned a number,” Petrino, the state police sergeant in charge of the forensic support section, said of the blood samples. “There is no name on the card.”

Police and prosecutors say the state’s DNA database is a major tool in cracking a growing number of cases in the state.

The database — and DNA technology — has also helped exclude suspects and freed some people who were convicted before the advances in the forensic field.

Last year in Massachusetts, there were 452 case-to-case or case-to-suspect “hits” in the DNA database systems, up from 121 in 2004.

Of that number last year, 15 were in Plymouth County, 44 were in Norfolk County and 32 in Bristol County.

At least nine people imprisoned on charges ranging from rape to murder were freed thanks to DNA evidence comparison through the Innocence Project, founded in 1992 to help prisoners who could be proven innocent by DNA testing.

In Brockton, the database linked a series of prostitute rapes spanning several years. A New Hampshire man, Brian Knippers, now charged in the attacks is awaiting trial. It also helped tie a convicted sex offender from Indiana to a 2003 unsolved rape here.

“It certainly has helped over the years,” said State Police Lt. Col. Stephen Matthews, commanding officer of the division of investigative services.

The DNA lab in Maynard is tucked in an cement building, next to a cable company.

Rows of offender blood samples line library-like shelves. Offender identification cards are stored in a separate room. In yet another room, technicians work in a sterile laboratory to analyze samples.

HOW DNA SYSTEM WORKS

The blood samples stored at the Maynard lab are taken from anyone convicted of a felony in the state and put on specially treated cards which binds the DNA to it.

Some samples are taken in jails and prisoners, other samples are taken when the offenders are on probation or parole.

Other DNA samples — about 3,200 called “forensic unknowns” — collected by investigators at crime scenes are stored in a different area at the crime lab.

Once the blood sample from offenders are taken, the cards — sealed in a bag — dry for about two weeks. Samples are then “punched” from the card by a special machine, and then sent to the lab in the building for review and analysis.

The DNA profile found in the blood is then uploaded first to the state DNA database, called the State DNA Index System, then to the national database, known as the National DNA Index System, using the software system CODIS —or Combined DNA Index System.

The FBI does a nationwide search weekly to see if offender profiles or cases match any unsolved cases. The state does a search at least once a week.

If there is a match, another sample from the “blood” card is “punched” for testing for another comparison.

Investigators also will pull the identification card, stored separately from the blood samples. Investigators will verify the person’s identity through a fingerprint comparison on the cards, make sure the person should legally be in the database.

If needed, another blood sample will be taken from the person to be used as evidence in the case. The sample used in the database is not used as evidence — only as probable cause to get another sample of the suspect’s DNA profile to use in court.

“The match is just the first step,” state police Major James M. Connolly, deputy division commander for forensic services.

Connolly has seen first-hand the key role the database plays in solving crimes.
While a state police homicide detective, he investigated the 2004 slaying of Joanne Presti and her 12-year-old daughter, Alyssa, in Woburn.

“We didn’t have much to go on,” Connolly said. That is, until DNA evidence from the scene was entered into the database.

Within five days, the sample matched that of a sex offender. The suspect, Michael Bizanowicz of Lowell, was later convicted of two counts of murder.

The state collects, on average, 700 DNA samples from offenders a month. It can take six to nine months for a routine sample to be analyzed and uploaded to the database for comparison, about the national average.

However, Petrino said cases that need immediate action can be done within a week.
As the database grows, so does the number of “hits.”

Petrino said he’s seen more breaking-and-entering cases in the state linked through DNA as more DNA evidence is collected and entered into the system.

DNA FREES INNOCENTS

Petrino and Connolly said police are aware of the importance of DNA evidence and juries look for that information when cases come to trial.

DNA evidence is not only important to find suspects — it can eliminate people as suspects, police and prosecutors said.

“It is a great tool for everybody in the criminal justice system,” Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz said. “It is not just used to incriminate suspects. Our job is to exculpate those who need to be exculpated.”

That has happened a number of times.

For example, in Brockton, when several prostitutes were brutally raped, several suspects were eliminated early on because their DNA did not match DNA evidence found on the victims.

Mike Scott, who prosecuted another rape case where the suspect was identified thanks to the database, said DNA is a crucial element in many cases. “It has helped defendants too,” he said. “I’m a big proponent of DNA.” ..Source.. by Maureen Boyle