Daily Journal: DNA Collection Program Run By Orange County DA Can Face Challenge

The 4th District Court of Appeal overturned a trial court judge’s ruling regarding a DNA collection program overseen by the Orange County District Attorney, saying that “the trial court erred by sustaining the demurrer as to the claims based on the right to privacy, the right to counsel, and due process: these claims asserted both facial and as-applied challenges to the OCDNA program, and Plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged the OCDNA program, as implemented by the OCDA, was unconstitutional.” Plaintiffs in the case claim that the program, which gives prosecutors access to DNA samples from people charged with misdemeanors, is unconstitutional. “The plaintiffs — represented by O’Melveny & Myers LLP and the Civil Rights Litigation Clinic at UCI Law — are pleased with the result. We look forward to the opportunity to conduct discovery to uncover how this opaque program actually works in practice, and to prove the extent to which it is violating Orange County residents’ rights to privacy, counsel, and due process,” O’Melveny said in a statement. 

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