In this appeal from a judgment of conviction following a guilty plea defendant challenges the constitutionality of the most recent amendment of the California DNA sample collection law, Penal Code section 296.1, upon which the trial court relied to impose an order for DNA testing upon him. We conclude that the statute does not offend constitutional principles, and affirm the judgment.
Defendant entered a negotiated plea of guilty to one count of felony driving under the influence of alcohol (Veh. Code, § 23152, subd. (a)), and admitted that he suffered two prior convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol within the past 10 years (Veh. Code, § 23550.5).[2] He was sentenced to a state prison term of 16 months, to run concurrently with a six-year sentence imposed in a separate Contra Costa County Superior Court action. Over objection by the defense, the trial court also ordered defendant to â€
Description
Penal Code Sec. 296.1--mandating collection of DNA samples and print impressions for collection and storage in a state database from every person convicted of a felony, every person found not guilty of a felony by reason of insanity, and every person adjudicated as a juvenile offender based on commission of a felony--does not violate Fourth Amendment's reasonableness requirement since benefits of such collection and storage outweigh felons' limited privacy rights. Sec. 296.1 does not violate the equal protection rights of convicted felons, who are not similarly situated to other persons with respect to the purposes that DNA sample collection and storage are intended to serve. Extension of DNA sample collection requirement to all felons does not violate due process even as amended to include all felony offenders within the DNA testing requirement since statute is minimally intrusive, does not infringe on privacy rights that are recognized as reasonable, and serves a compelling state interest. Section 296.1 does not impose punishment so its extension of DNA sampling requirements does not violate ex post facto clauses as applied to defendant convicted after statute's effective date of offense that would not have subjected him to such requirements under law in effect on date of crime.
