Legal links of interest for the week ending June 7, 2013

Some of the stories about courts, the law and lawyers in the news this past week:

City's red light camera program may be challenged in court: lawsuit claims program denies constitutional right to due process.

When court takes up privacy, Scalia finds himself with unlikely teammates: Scalia, with those three liberal justices joining him, said that DNA sampling constitutes an impermissible search under the Fourth Amendment.

New York's Court of Appeals asked to hear fracking home rule cases: Attorneys for Norse Energy and an Otsego County farmer made the filing, asking the state’s highest court to take on the cases of upstate towns that changed their zoning laws in 2011 to ban hydrofracking and gas drilling

Ohio prosecutor fired after posing as an accused killer's girlfriend on Facebook: A prosecutor in Ohio has reportedly been fired after admitting to a chat with an accused killer’s alibi witnesses in an attempt to persuade them to change their testimony.

Judge's ruling challenges US transplant system: a federal judge has allowed one dying child - and a day later another - to essentially jump the line in rulings that could have ramifications for thousands of people awaiting new organs.

How the IRS scandal may damage anti-terror data mining: A Cornell law professor argues that explanations and justifications which might have worked in the past no longer are enough, thanks to the IRS.

New York’s DNA databank expansion now in effect

On Wednesday (August 1), New York State’s all-crimes DNA bill went into effect.

This law makes New York the first state in the nation to require collection of DNA samples from anyone convicted of a felony or misdemeanor. Previously, less than half of all defendants convicted of a Penal Law offense were required to provide a DNA sample.

Even with its limited information, the DNA databank provided leads in nearly over two thousand convictions. DNA evidence has also led to the exoneration of nearly thirty New Yorkers who were wrongly convicted.

It is believed that a complete DNA databank will be even more effective in helping to convict the guilty, exonerating the innocent, and giving attorneys and court officials more reliable evidence to better protect the rights of all New Yorkers.

For more information on the new DNA law click here.

New York expands DNA databank

Beginning in August, anyone convicted of a felony or penal law misdemeanor in New York State will have to provide a sample for the state's DNA databank under a new law.

Previously, less than fifty percent of convicted criminals were required to provide samples.

The new law also expands defendants' access to DNA testing and comparison both before and after conviction in appropriate circumstances, as well as to discovery after conviction where innocence is claimed.

According to supporters of the new law, the DNA databank provided leads in nearly 2,900 convictions. DNA evidence has also led to the exoneration of 27 New Yorkers who were wrongly convicted.

More information on the state’s DNA databank can be found here.