Law Sought to Require Felony Suspects' DNA

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (MyFOX Atlanta) - A Marietta legislator will introduce a bill in the 2010 Georgia Legislature that would require a DNA sample be taken from anyone suspected of a felony.

Rob Teilhet of Marietta said he will introduce a bill in the next session that calls for the collection of a DNA sample from any felony suspect arrested in Georgia.

A Lawrenceville couple whose daughter was stabbed to death in Tennessee five years ago pushed for similar legislation there, and her killer was apprehended in 2007 when he voluntarily agreed to DNA testing after he was picked up on a burglary charge.

Johnia Berry was a graduate student at East Tennessee State University when she moved to Knoxville to enter the master's program at the University of Tennessee. On Dec. 6, 2004, someone broke into the apartment she shared with a roommate and stabbed her more than 20 times.

Mike and Joan Berry, Johnia's parents, started their push for mandatory DNA collection on the arrest of felony suspects in Tennessee, and the Johnia Berry Act passed in May 2007. In September 2007, Taylor Lee Olson was arrested and charged with Berry's murder. Olson died in his cell at the Knox County Detention Center in May 2008 before he could be brought to trial. His death was ruled a suicide.

Telihet said 47 states have mandatory DNA collection upon conviction, but in Georgia you have to be convicted of a violent crime to be tested.

DNA is the best crime-fighting tool we have, Telihet said, but the Southern Center for Human Rights opposes the passage of such a bill, citing an invasion of privacy and the setting of a dangerous precedent.