Ohio court: Old DNA in acquittals can be kept

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that DNA taken from someone acquitted of a crime can be retained and used in subsequent investigations.

The justices said people don’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy if a DNA sample taken from them during a criminal investigation is used in a separate investigation down the road.

The decision today stems from an Ohio man who was acquitted of a 2005 rape but was later convicted of a 2007 murder.

Authorities had taken a DNA sample from Dajuan Emerson in the rape investigation.

Emerson was acquitted but the sample was retained and matched DNA taken at the crime scene of a Cleveland woman’s 2007 murder.

Emerson had argued that the state violated his constitutional rights by keeping the sample.