25 years for one of JaCo's oldest DNA cases

From Sara Shepherd: A judge on Monday sentenced Curtis L. Cornelius, 46, of Kansas City, to 25 years in prison in a 17-year-old rape case — thought to be one of Jackson County’s oldest DNA cases.

According to court documents, in September 1991, a masked man entered the 36-year-old victim’s bedroom in the 3800 block of Flora Avenue while she slept. He raped her twice at knifepoint while her two daughters slept in another room.

Cornelius was charged in a 1992 sexual attack against three other women and a 12-year-old boy but later was acquitted. However, DNA collected from the 1992 scene eventually linked him to the 1991 rape.

Comments

[Joe S TheRagMan]

I'd like to play devil's advocate on this one.

If the guy was acquitted in the sexual assaults from '92, why was his DNA still in the system. I didn't know the authorities could keep it, if the person was forced to give the sample, and later proven not-guilty.

That's like collecting a specimen from an innocent person, isn't it?

Granted, this loser had it coming. It's just too bad he got 17 extra years of freedom before it caught up with him.

[winkyb2me]

Actually, specimens CAN and ARE collected from innocent persons all the time. Earlier this year, the Senate Judiciary Commission held hearings on this very subject -- what to do with an innocent's DNA sample once he's been eliminated as a suspect in the crime originally being investigated. It's too costly to just purge the samples (and profiles) from the databases and they can come in handy in other crimes, as this case shows. Last I heard, despite strenuous objections from the ACLU on the subject, the status quo is being left alone for now. If your DNA shows up in a database somewhere, it can be reanalyzed at a later date even if you were cleared in the original investigation.

[146]

Great:( I guess I'll just go turn myself in.

I've got to carry handi wipes with me every where!

[Drew]

Fingerprints are taken from people who are only processed and maybe not even charged, much less convicted. Prints are even taken in non-arrest situations. Not a big deal for DNA--it's just an identifier.