Over the past decade, Vermont legislators have twice amended state law to force more people to submit DNA samples to the database. The criteria expanded in 2005 to include not just anyone convicted of a violent felony, but anyone convicted of any felony. In 2009, in the wake of the rape and murder of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett of Braintree, the Legislature expanded the sampling base again, this time to include anyone arraigned on a felony, a misdemeanor count of domestic violence, or a misdemeanor sex offense requiring sex offender registration.

"Requiring a DNA sample from all adults charged with a felony offense after arraignment violates an individual's right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures under both the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and Chapter I, Article 11 of the Vermont Constitution," writes attorney Rory Malone in a memorandum of law, which has been filed in cases all over the state.

Assistant Attorney General John Treadwell, who has opposed such motions, contends that the law "is a valid statute, enacted by the Legislature, and entirely constitutional."

Source: Burlington Free Press