BUFFALO, N.Y.-- On the day the State Senate passed Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposed expansion of the state database, Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy visited Buffalo to pitch the proposal.
Duffy joined local law enforcement and Mayor Byron Brown to show his support for the plan, which would expand how many and which crimes require convicts to submit their DNA to the state.
State Senator Patrick Gallivan (R-59th District) spoke exclusively with 2 On Your Side about the proposal, which he says will save lives.
Gallivan, a former Erie County Sheriff and State Police Captain, said if the technology had been available and if the proposed bill were law, Bike Path Rapist Altemio Sanchez could have been caught much sooner than 2007.
That's because Sanchez was arrested in 1991 on misdemeanor "patronizing a prostitute" charges. That charge, under the proposed bill, would require him to submit his DNA.
Gallivan and other point out this would further exonerate innocent people, such as Anthony Capozzi, who was wrongly convicted in the Bike Path Rapist investigation.
Two other Western New Yorkers were also cleared of charges thanks to DNA -- Lynn DeJac and Vincent Jenkins.
On the flip side, some complain of privacy concerns and possible corruption.
The New York Civil Liberties Union said, "This is not a simple undertaking... We know that issues of error and fraud and abuse, both benign and real, occur in labs all over the country."
Duffy defended the proposal.
"(The governor's) plan to expand the state's DNA Databank will transform our criminal justice system," Duffy, who is a former police chief, said. "During my law enforcement career, I saw case after case where DNA evidence made a difference - excluding individuals from suspicion, identifying those responsible for crimes and giving victims closure and a measure of justice. I can't imagine why anyone would want to preclude such a powerful tool from being used to its fullest potential."
Mayor Brown said, "Governor Cuomo's proposal to expand the DNA Databank is critically important to solving crimes, and equally as important to keep people who are innocent from being wrongly convicted. This is going to be another useful crime fighting tool to help the Buffalo Police Department and other law enforcement agencies further reduce crime in Buffalo, and across New York."
Buffalo Police Chief Dennis Richards said, "In Buffalo, we know the value of DNA evidence, which was invaluable in solving a string of three homicides, committed by Altemio Sanchez, or the cold case murder investigation of Barbara Lloyd, who was brutally killed in 1974. It was DNA evidence that led to an arrest on February 1, 2007 and subsequent conviction of Leon Chatt for her stabbing death."
New York State's current state law only permits DNA to be collected anyone convicted of a Penal Law felony or one of 36 misdemeanors. The proposal would cover all felonies and all Penal Law misdemeanors.
The bill now goes to the Assembly, where some Democrats from Downstate have expressed concerns.