From: believer@telepath.com Subject: IP: Tracking: DNA database in Okla. Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 08:54:13 -0500 To: believer@telepath.com Source: Tulsa World http://www.tulsaworld.com/News.htm DNA database helps make case By World's own Service 9/16/98 OKLAHOMA CITY -- A 1994 law creating a DNA database for Oklahoma law enforcement contributed to Monday's conviction in an Oklahoma City mass murder case, an author of the law said Tuesday. Danny Keith Hooks was found guilty Monday of the May 16, 1992, murders of five women in Oklahoma City. Jurors must now decide whether to sentence him to death. Hooks was first identified through genetic evidence collected at the crime scene. The arrest and conviction marked one of the first major cases involving the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation's DNA database and lab since it became operational in 1994, said Rep. James Dunegan, D-Calera. Under the law, blood samples are collected from certain convicts, and OSBI technicians analyze and type the genetic markers. That information is then stored in a database. The law also enlarged the bureau's DNA laboratory, Dunegan said. The Oklahoma City mass killing had remained unsolved for five years. Oklahoma City police records showed that until Hooks was arrested last year, more than 700 reports had been written on the case, 8,000 people had been fingerprinted and more than 400 blood samples had been analyzed in the case. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations ran unidentified DNA from blood at the crime scene through several states' databases of criminals' genetic profiles, said Kym Koch, a spokeswoman for the OSBI. While at an out-of-state national conference of DNA criminalists in 1996, the head of the OSBI's DNA lab asked experts from California to analyze the unknown DNA, Koch said. It matched Hooks' genetic profile, proving he had been at the crime scene. Prosecutors said Hooks must have been cut while he was killing his victims. Hooks had served time in a California prison on a rape conviction. Law enforcers were able to trace the DNA samples found at the murder scene to Hooks because he had to submit a DNA sample to California corrections officials before his release there. Hooks was convicted of killing the women during a sexual attack. He was arrested last year in California. Koch said roughly half of the states have their own DNA databases. Copyright 1996, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved. ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo@majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** www.telepath.com/believer **********************************************