ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, May 11, 1996 TAG: 9605130072
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, ILL.
SOURCE: Associated Press
An Air Force sergeant was demoted and sentenced to 14 days at hard labor Friday for refusing to give a blood and saliva sample for a DNA registry designed to help identify servicemen's remains.
Tech. Sgt. Warren Sinclair, 33, of Hampton, Va., became the third serviceman this year to be convicted at a court-martial of disobeying an order to provide such samples.
Sinclair had claimed that the requirement violated his Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure. He also declared, ``It is our God-given right to maintain possession of our genes.''
He contended that the Pentagon did not have adequate safeguards to prevent the DNA from being used for other purposes than the identification of remains. Prosecutors disputed that.
Some experts have warned that genetic information that can indicate whether someone is susceptible to certain diseases could be used to deny people insurance or employment.
Sinclair was demoted two ranks and sentenced to hard labor without confinement by the military judge who found him guilty. He could have received a bad-conduct discharge, six months' confinement at hard labor, and forfeiture of two-thirds of his pay.
LENGTH: Short : 34 linesby CNB