President Obama signs DNA measure named for slain NMSU student Katie Sepich

Katie Sepich (Courtesy Carlsbad Current-Argus)

SANTA FE - President Obama on Thursday signed into law the Katie Sepich Act, named for a graduate student at New Mexico State University who was murdered by a stranger.

It will expand DNA collection in arrests of defendants arrested on suspicion of serious crimes.

U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., introduced the legislation with then-U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman in March 2011 to create incentives for states to implement DNA collection programs.

New Mexico already has a Katie's Law.

State legislators in 2011 approved a bill mandating that everybody arrested on suspicion of a felony provide police a DNA sample. It expanded a state law that required DNA

samples upon arrest in a subset of serious crimes.

The idea is that checking DNA will pinpoint people who have committed other crimes.

When 22-year-old Sepich was slain in 2003, New Mexico did not collect DNA until a defendant was convicted. Her killer was arrested on unrelated charges that same year, but he was not connected to Sepich's rape and slaying until his conviction for other crimes in 2006.

"Katie's Law is a sensible approach that would give law enforcement the tools they need to help solve crimes and prevent heartbreaking tragedies like Katie's from happening in the future," Udall said.

The goal of the federal legislation, first introduced in 2010 by then-U.S. Rep. Harry Teague, D-Hobbs, is to offer an

incentive to states that do not have DNA collection processes for arrests. It would authorize the U.S. Department of Justice to award grants to cover up to 100 percent of a state's first-year cost of implementing a collection program.

Sepich was from Carlsbad and was a graduate student at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces when she was killed.

Milan Simonich, Santa Fe bureau chief of Texas-New Mexico Newspapers, may be reached at msimonich@tnmnp.com or 505-820-6898. His blog is at nmcapitolreport.com

Source: http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_22347424/president-obama-signs-bill-named-slain-nmsu-student?source=rss_viewed

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