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RENO, Nev. (AP) – In July 2002, James Michael Biela was arrested on charges of assaulting an ex-girlfriend with a knife during a drunken rage in Reno.

After that, he had no documented run-ins with law enforcement until November 2008, when he was arrested in a string of violent, unsolved serial crimes in Reno, including the rapes of two college women and the rape and strangulation of Brianna Denison, 19.

Officials say DNA links him to a December 2007 rape and the Denison slaying. But the alleged genetic connections were made only after a Secret Witness tip led detectives to Biela, who has pleaded not guilty and faces trial next year.

Had Nevada law required DNA be taken from all persons arrested on felony charges, a DNA link could have been made to Biela for the 2007 rape, about a month before Denison’s death, depending on criteria set forth in the law regarding the storage and removal of samples.

Victim advocates say killers likely would be arrested sooner, preventing them from committing more violence.

Saying they want to safeguard potential victims, Denison’s friends and family are renewing their push for lawmakers to adopt “Brianna’s Law” to require DNA testing of everyone arrested for a felony. It is similar to “Katie’s Law” enacted in 2007 in New Mexico after the rape and murder of graduate student, Katie Sepich.

All persons arrested for federal crimes are required to submit their DNA for testing by a law upheld in May by the Eastern District of California federal court. The Bring Bri Justice Foundation has teamed with Secret Witness and Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto to create a task force to explore how to get the law, or a form of it, passed in Nevada.

The effort was introduced during the last legislative session by Assembly Minority Leader Heidi Gansert, R-Reno, but died because of
its more than $6 million projected cost. Felons are assessed a $150 DNA testing fee that officials say only 10 percent pay.

Bring Bri Justice Foundation members say “Brianna’s Law” would prevent violent crimes and repeat offending, exonerate the innocent and drastically reduce time and money spent on lengthy criminal investigations. Overtime for the Reno Police Department’s investigation into Denison’s death was more than $365,000.

Reno Police Sgt. Chuck Lovitt said DNA immediately points detectives to a potential suspect in cases instead of having to chase false leads that cost time and money. But he cautioned that a suspect still must be investigated and isn’t arrested just because of a DNA match.

Critics say the law would be too expensive in this economic crisis, could violate civil rights because not all people arrested are convicted and that samples could be compromised to obtain personal medical information or discriminate against minorities. During a March legislative hearing, officials said that in 2007, more than 86,000 felony arrests were made in Nevada, with only 13,000 convictions.

Michigan passed Katie’s Law last year and now legislators there fear that because it was unfunded, samples won’t immediately be stored in databases, leaving criminals free on the streets while backlogs grow. Masto said the law has “clear positives” but the biggest challenge to Nevada is funding it.

“I am hoping we can work through the civil issues,” she said.

Lovitt said that if DNA was taken for arrests for gateway crimes that lead to more violent offenses, such as burglary, crimes would be prevented.

“We have an opportunity to significantly impact violent crime, but it won’t work unless it can handle the onslaught of work, otherwise the system will grind to a halt because it’s so overwhelmed,” he said.

Denison Foundation members said they are committed to finding a
funding source for the law.

Currently, DNA is entered into the state and national databases only after a felony conviction, which became a Nevada unfunded mandate in 2007.

Lee Rowland, coordinator the Northern Nevada ACLU chapter, said the law is a potentially unconstitutional solution, as is the process.

“Here in America, you are innocent until proven guilty,” she said. “This mandate would treat you like you are already convicted, and then pass the cost on to you just because you were arrested.”

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, said it will be a balancing act and that lawmakers will have to be convinced the public safety advantages outweigh privacy issues.

“If you’re innocent, who cares if you have to give your DNA,” Leslie said. “But from a civil liberties side, the government has no right to take my DNA because a police officer arrested me. I work in the criminal justice system and am not soft on crime. But how would you feel if you were wrongfully arrested and your DNA was taken?”

Crime lab scientists say they don’t have the capability to know anything about a DNA sample other than the person’s gender. The samples do not have names, but are given a code of numbers for identification purposes. Other safeguards would be in place, foundation members said, such as destroying samples if charges are dropped against a person.

“The foundation’s guiding principle is to do everything possible to ensure that no other family, or individual, is forced to go through what Brianna and her family had to endure,” said Valarie Van Antwerp, vice president of the Denison Foundation.

“This legislation is perhaps the most important step we can take. Taking DNA saves lives.”

Don Richter, founder and board member of Secret Witness, said he is unable to find a valid argument against the law.

“Any legislator who opposes this will personally wear the name of all future rape and murder victims,” he said. “The true cost of not having this is the loss of human lives, raped women and traumatized victims and families.”