Expanded Katie’s Law Signed Today
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez is traveling to Carlsbad Wednesday to sign an expanded version of a law she championed while serving as District Attorney in Doa Ana County.
The new version of Katie’s Law will now require those arrested and accused of nonviolent acts such as fraud and larceny to submit a DNA sample to the state’s crime labs. Previously, only those accused of violent acts were required to submit a sample of their DNA.
The initial law was created after the rape and murder of Katie Sepich, 22, a graduate student at New Mexico State University. Her body was set on fire and left near a dump site outside of Las Cruces in August 2003. Even though a complete sample of DNA was collected from under her fingernails, her case went cold.
It wasn’t until 2006, when Gabriel Avila’s DNA was entered into the system after he was convicted of other crimes, that he was tied to Sepich’s murder. He changed his not guilty plea to guilty in May 2007 and was sentenced to 69 years in prison.
Nearly half the states in the country have since adopted their own versions of Katie’s Law; more than a dozen of those require those accused of nonviolent crimes to submit a DNA sample.
The ABC-7 New Mexico Mobile Newsroom is traveling to Carlsbad for the signing of the expanded law. Stay with ABC-7 for updates.
