Collecting Samples for DNA Database

Darnell Griffin's case is the state's first random hit from DNA samples, but the attorney general says it won't be the last. He expects to solve many more crimes, thanks to a new law that requires DNA from all of Hawaii's convicted felons.

DNA evidence is often used to catch and convict criminals. Until now, samples were only collected from Hawaii's most violent offenders and only in the last couple of years.

"We wanted this law because we thought DNA samples would help convict the guilty and help free the innocent," said State Attorney General Mark Bennett.

Since December, the state has taken DNA swabs from all of the convicted felons in custody statewide and stored them in a database. That's an estimated 2,240 inmates, all soon to be compared to evidence from crimes here and across the nation.

"When we have the complete collection sample done and when we have them all compared to codus, we expect there to be a lot of cold hits because that's been the experience of other states," said Bennett.

There is still another 40,000 samples to collect from convicted felons who have already served their time. How will the state track them down? The attorney general says about 10,000 will be simple. They are already on parole or at the state hospital. That leaves 30,000 to find with the help of just three investigators. He warns it will take time.

"So we are going to try to do the most serious individuals first and go down until everyone's sample is collected that's been a convicted felon. This will no doubt take several years because there are tens of thousands to be collected," said Bennett.

But when it's done, Bennett expects to crack more unsolved cases and put more criminals behind bars.