Woman sues after DNA from rape kit used to arrest her

A girl whose DNA from a rape equipment was utilized by cops to arrest her for an unrelated housebreaking has filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to San Francisco Monday, alleging that police invaded her privateness.

The DNA of the girl, referred to as Jane Doe, was saved by the SFPD as a part of a home violence and sexual assault case in 2016. In accordance with her lawyer, Adanté Pointer, the identical pattern was used to cost her with retail theft 5 years later.

The lawsuit claims that the sufferer’s DNA was entered with out her data or consent right into a database used to establish perpetrators in different crimes.

“That is authorities overreach of the very best order, utilizing essentially the most distinctive and private factor now we have— our genetic code— with out our data to attempt to join us to crime,” Pointer stated in a press release.

The swimsuit says the database misused “1000’s” of victims’ DNA, though it’s unclear if there have been different arrests. 

Jane Doe’s case led to a widespread revelation of the apply throughout the SFPD earlier this yr, when then-DA Chesa Boudin heard of her arrest and declined to prosecute her.

Talking at a press convention in February, Boudin referred to as the DNA proof the “fruit of the toxic tree” and an “egregious violation of sufferer privateness.” On the time, San Francisco Police Chief Invoice Scott said that he had ordered an investigation.

“We must not ever create disincentives for crime victims to cooperate with police,” he stated.

Inside days, the SFPD officially ended the practice of sharing sufferer DNA exterior the crime lab.

There’s already a federal legislation that prohibits the inclusion of victims’ DNA within the nationwide Mixed DNA Index System (CODIS). There isn’t any state legislation in California prohibiting investigators from retaining sufferer profiles and looking out them in connection to completely different crimes afterward.

In a statement to Bloomberg, Jen Kwart, a spokesperson for San Francisco Metropolis Lawyer David Chin, stated the town “is dedicated to making sure all victims of crime really feel snug reporting points to legislation enforcement and has taken steps to safeguard sufferer data.”

Kwart additionally famous municipal legislation authorised this spring prohibiting San Francisco police or different departments from sharing or storing crime victims’ DNA in any database not topic to federal or state guidelines.

Final month, California lawmakers approved a bill that might forbid DNA collected from sexual assault survivors and different victims for something aside from figuring out the perpetrator. Native police would even be banned from protecting and looking out sufferer DNA with the intention to incriminate them in unrelated investigations.

The laws is pending earlier than Gov. Gavin Newsom.

In an article about the exploitation of victim DNA for the Digital Frontier Basis, Surveillance Litigation Director Jennifer Lynch pointed to different native “rogue” databases, together with an notorious “spit-and-acquit” program in Orange County. The problem, Lynch argues, hinges on how law enforcement officials push the boundaries of consent when gathering genetic materials.

“A legislation that merely addresses DNA collected from rape victims will not be sufficient to stop different improper and unconstitutional DNA searches sooner or later, each in San Francisco and all through the nation,” Lynch wrote.

“Any laws that’s launched should additionally tackle the consent points extra broadly.”

The San Francisco Police Division, the Metropolis Lawyer’s Workplace, and Adanté Pointer couldn’t be instantly reached for remark.