Johnson v. Quander

370 F. Supp. 2d 79, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5020, 2005 WL 670759
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedMarch 21, 2005
DocketCiv.A. 04-448(RBW)
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 370 F. Supp. 2d 79 (Johnson v. Quander) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Johnson v. Quander, 370 F. Supp. 2d 79, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5020, 2005 WL 670759 (D.D.C. 2005).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

WALTON, District Judge.

The plaintiff brings this action alleging that the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000, 42 U.S.C. § 14135b, (“the DNA Act”) and D.C.Code § 22-4151, which was enacted by the District of Columbia to implement in the District of Columbia the objectives of the DNA Act, violate the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the United States Constitution; the Ex Post Facto Clauses of Article 1, sections 9 and 10 of the Constitution; the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”), '42 U.S.C. §§ 1320d to d-8; and the International Convention of the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Complaint (“Compl.”) ¶¶ 14-20. The defendants, pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6), have filed a motion to dismiss this action. Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss at 1. Currently before the Court are the Defendants’ Memorandum in Support of Motion to Dismiss (“Defs.’ Mem.”); the Plaintiffs Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (“Pl.’s Opp’n”); and the Defendants’ Reply in Support of Motion to Dismiss (“Defs.’ Reply”). For the reasons set forth below, this Court grants the defendants’ motion.

I. Background

(A) Statutory History

Under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (“1994 Act”), 42 U.S.C. § 14132, “Congress authorized the FBI to create a national index of [deoxyribonucleic acid (“DNA”) ] samples taken from convicted offenders, crime scenes and victims of crime, and unidentified human remains.” H.R.Rep. No. 106-900 at 8 (2000). In response to this congressional mandate, the FBI established the Combined DNA Index System (“CO- *83 DIS”). Id. The CODIS database provides a means for State and local forensic laboratories to share DNA profiles in an attempt to “link evidence from crime scenes for which there are no suspects to DNA samples of convicted offenders on file in the system.” 1 Id. However, the 1994 Act was interpreted by the FBI to only permit the creation of the CODIS, not the taking of DNA samples of persons convicted of federal offenses for input into the system. Id. Thus, “the FBI requested that Congress enact statutory authority to allow the taking of DNA samples from persons committing Federal crimes of violence, robbery, and burglary, or similar crimes in the District of Columbia or while in the military, and authorizing them to be included in CODIS.” Id.

Accordingly, Congress passed the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (“DNA Act”), 42 U.S.C. § 14135 et seq., which authorizes the “Attorney General to make grants to eligible States ... to carry out, for the inclusion in the Combined DNA Index System of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, DNA analyses of samples taken from individuals convicted of a qualifying State offenses.” 42 U.S.C. § 14135(a)(1). Moreover, the DNA Act provides that “[t]he Director of the Bureau of Prisons shall collect a DNA sample from each individual in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons who is, or has been, convicted of a qualifying Federal offense” and that “the probation office responsible for the supervision under Federal law of an individual on probation, parole, or supervised release shall collect a DNA sample from each such individual who is or has been, convicted of a qualifying Federal offense.” 42 U.S.C. § 14135a(a)(l)-(2). In addition, Congress has mandated the collection of DNA samples from “each individual in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons who is, or has been convicted of a qualifying District of Columbia offense” or any “individual under the supervision of the Agency who is on supervised release, parole, or probation who is, or has been convicted of a qualifying District of Columbia offense.” 42 U.S.C. § 14135b(a)(l)-(2). Congress left to the District of Columbia the responsibility of determining which offenses under the District of Columbia Code should be deemed qualifying offenses. 42 U.S.C. § 14135b(d). The District of Columbia has determined that forty-nine separate offense qualify for collection under the DNA Act. See, D.C.Code § 22-4151(1)— (46). These qualifying offense include, for example, arson, aggravated assault, burglary, kidnaping, robbery, attempted robber and carjacking. Id.

Once a DNA sample is entered into the CODIS database, the information can only be released (1) “to criminal justice agencies for law enforcement identification purposes;” (2) “in judicial proceedings;” (3) “for criminal defense purposes, to a defendant, who shall have access to samples and analyses performed in connection with the case in which such defendant is charged;” or (4) “if personally identifiable information is removed, for a population statistics database, for identification research and protocol development purposes, or for quality control purposes.” 42 U.S.C. § 14132(b)(3). In addition, the DNA Act imposes criminal penalties for individuals who improperly disclose sample results or improperly obtains or uses DNA samples. 42 U.S.C. § 14135e(c).

(B) Factual Background

On December 20, 2001, the plaintiff, Lamar Johnson, was convicted in the Superi- *84 or Court of the District of Columbia of two counts of unarmed robbery in violation of D.C.Code § 22-2801. Compl. ¶4. On March 15, 2002, the plaintiff was sentenced to a one year prison sentence and placed on two years supervised release for each conviction. Id. However, execution of both sentences were suspended and the plaintiff was placed on two years probation for each offense, which were designated to run concurrently. Id. On or around February 18, 2004, prior to the expiration of the plaintiffs probationary term, the defendants, pursuant to the DNA Act and D.C.Code § 22-4151

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Bluebook (online)
370 F. Supp. 2d 79, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5020, 2005 WL 670759, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-quander-dcd-2005.