(CN) — New York law enforcement will once again be allowed to use DNA from people convicted of crimes in order to search for their family members, after the state's high court on Tuesday reinstated a 2017 regulation granting that authority.
Terrence Stevens and Benjamin Joseph, whose brothers are incarcerated in New York, brought the challenge to the regulation, which broadened the state’s DNA data bank and permitted law enforcement to identify potential blood relatives using DNA left at a crime scene. Stevens’ brother is serving time on weapons charges and Joseph’s brother was convicted of third-degree assault.
The familial database is only allowed to be used after other options are exhausted, the New York Court of Appeals' Chief Judge Rowan D. Wilson pointed out in Tuesday's opinion, and the state's commission on forensic science and its subcommittee on DNA had the statutory authority to establish rules for using the system.
“That the statute does not expressly mention familial searches is not pertinent,” Wilson wrote. “The statutory provisions cited above grant the commission the power to determine what constitutes a ‘match’ and to establish rules regarding use, dissemination and confidentiality of information based on matches of DNA samples submitted by law enforcement.”
A key issue in the case was whether the two plaintiffs had standing to sue: They aren't currently in the state’s database, nor have they been approached by police to provide their DNA sample, but they were worried about the prospect and claimed they were at “heightened risk” of police encounters because they both have brothers convicted of felonies.
After finding the men had standing to sue, a trial judge went on to dismiss the complaint, saying the agency acted within its statutory authority.
In 2022, a state appeals court reversed the dismissal in a 3-2 ruling, finding the men had standing “because the regulation subjects them to the peculiar risk that they will be targets of criminal investigations for no other reason than that they have close biological relatives who are criminals.”
New York’s high court sided with the trial judge Tuesday, agreeing the plaintiffs had standing but the legislature acted within its bounds. Judges Michael J. Garcia, Madeline Singas and Anthony Cannataro concurred.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Stephen K. Lindley disagreed, saying the legislature “did not authorize the commission or the DNA subcommittee to make important policy-laden decisions of this nature.”
He added that the agency, in adopting the familial search regulations, crossed a “hazy line” between administrative rulemaking and legislative policymaking.
Judges Shirley Troutman and Michael Lynch concurred in the dissent.
The data bank was created in 1994, because of the DNA Databank Act, which also created the New York State Commission on Forensic Science and the DNA Subcommittee.
In a statement, Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn applauded the court's decision, calling it a "big win for public safety."
"New York State's prosecutors understand that the ability to use familial searching is an important and invaluable tool for investigating cold cases and solving violent crimes," Flynn, president of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York, said.
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