2021 New Mexico Statutes
Article 16 - DNA Identification
Section 29-16-1 - Short title.

Chapter 29, Article 16 NMSA 1978 may be cited as the "DNA Identification Act".
History: Laws 1997, ch. 105, § 1; 2003, ch. 256, § 4.
The 2003 amendment, effective July 1, 2003 substituted "Chapter 29, Article 16 NMSA 1978" for "This act [29-16-1 to 29-16-13 NMSA 1978]" at the beginning of the section.
Constitutionality. — New Mexico's DNA Identification Act, which requires all persons arrested for certain crimes to provide a DNA sample, is not unconstitutional on its face, because weighing the law enforcement need to identify all persons it has arrested for committing a felony, and the sample's subsequent use in a database, against the minimally invasive means for securing the DNA sample from a defendant's cheek weighs in favor of concluding that the search is reasonable under the fourth amendment to the U.S. Constitution and of the N.M. Const., art. II, § 10. State v. Blea, 2018-NMCA-052, cert. denied.
Where defendant was convicted of multiple counts of first degree criminal sexual penetration and first degree kidnapping involving four separate victims, and where defendant claimed that New Mexico's DNA Identification Act, which requires all persons arrested for certain crimes to provide a DNA sample, is unconstitutional on its face, defendant's claim was denied, because weighing the law enforcement need to identify all persons it has arrested for committing a felony, and the sample's subsequent use under the combined DNA index system database, against the minimally invasive means for securing the DNA sample from a defendant's cheek weighs in favor of concluding that the search is reasonable under the fourth amendment to the U.S. Constitution and of the N.M. Const., art. II, § 10. State v. Blea, 2018-NMCA-052, cert. denied.

Structure 2021 New Mexico Statutes