Martinez wants to expand Katie's Law

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Gov. Susana Martinez plans on revisiting the expansion of Katie's Law to include all felony crimes. The controversial bill -- passed in its revised form -- only required DNA samples from violent felony suspects.

"It wasn't everything we wanted it to be," Martinez said.

Currently only specific felony arrests, such as those related to murder, kidnapping and abduction, are included in the law. Martinez wants to expand Katie's Law to require DNA samples from all people who are arrested on felony charges including car theft, drug charges and drunken driving.

"Enacting an expanded version of Katie's Law is a critical step to providing law enforcement officers with every tool they need to make New Mexicans safer," Martinez said.

Katie's Law is named after murdered New Mexico State University student Katie Sepich. She was raped, strangled, burned and left in a dump in Las Cruces in 2003.

Gabriel Avila was eventually convicted of Katie's murder through DNA in 2006. He was in prison serving an unrelated burglary crime, which he was charged with in 2004, at the time.

Martinez said investigators could have identified Avila as Katie's killer when he was arrested for aggravated burglary if there'd been a law like this earlier.

Katie's parents, Dave and Jayann Sepich, are also big supporters of the expanded law.

"I absolutely believe that if we take DNA for all felony arrests, we'll see matches go up quite a bit," Jayann Sepich said.

But in 2006, many legislators and civil rights groups didn't support the expanded version. Today, they still feel the same way.

"If you have been arrested for a crime, you have not been convicted of committing that crime," said ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson. "Yet you are having this evidence taken from you, and conceivably it can be used in future criminal investigations where you may not even be originally suspected of a crime."

State Sen. Vernon Asbill, R-Carlsbad, will introduce the new version in the Legislature. The 60-day session convenes Jan. 18.

The current Katie's Law has been adopted by other states. It could also become federal law. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill in Sept. 2010. It is currently pending approval from the Senate.