An Auburn man is appealing his 2022 conviction for the sexual assault and murder of a 20-year-old indigenous woman in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1993.
Steven Downs is arguing that the search of a DNA database used to identify him as Sophie Sergie’s killer was unconstitutional.
Alaska police used DNA from the crime scene to search a commercial ancestry database, and found a partial match from Downs’ aunt that was then used to identify him.
“What’s interesting about the issue, and what makes this case so compelling, is that it really is a pretty new area of forensic science,” said James Howaniec, Downs’ attorney.
The technology is so new, Howaniec said, that its use by law enforcement has not been litigated in the courts. He argues that police should have to get a warrant before searching databases for a DNA match.
“We’re not opposed to the use of genetic genealogy in helping to solve these crimes,” he said. “But there has to be a warrant involved, and in this case, there was no warrant, they just randomly went into these data bases.”
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
