A suspect in the case of the Grim Sleeper, a Los Angeles serial killer nicknamed by L.A. Weekly due to a long period of dormancy between kills (“Grim Sleeper Returns…”), is set to be tried in June of this year. The suspect is Lonnie Franklin Jr. A former police mechanic and trash collector, Franklin is accused of ten counts of murder and one of attempted murder (Police Make Arrest). The victims of this case “were all black and most were apparent prostitutes or drug addicts who were sexually assaulted. A 12th victim escaped after being shot and raped.” (“LAPD”). All crimes took place within the boundaries of Los Angeles County, with the primary motive supposedly being sexual (“Grim Sleeper Returns…”). With the direct piece of evidence convicting …show more content…
Following the arrest of Franklin, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit with the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals against the Attorney General’s office challenging Proposition 69, which allowed law enforcement access to the type of DNA collection that helped lead to the arrest of Franklin in the first place, which the ACLU cited in their suit as a violation of privileged information. (Kravets) Proposition 69, according to wired.com, “requires adult detainees to provide a saliva, or sometimes a blood sample, upon felony arrest. The sample is stored in state and FBI databases, even if the arrested adult is never charged or convicted of a crime” (Kravets). This is where most of the controversy lies. Many cite this storage of DNA, especially in situations where the adult is not charged or convicted in violation of a felony, as a breach of privacy. The ACLU argued: [DNA is] our genetic information. It contains information about diseases and medical conditions we have, as well as those we might one day get. Genetic information has been linked not just to physical traits like hair and eye color, but aggression, susceptibility to addiction, and sexual orientation. And while the portions of DNA that are analyzed