THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 10, 1996 TAG: 9605100495
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, ILL. LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Prosecutors in the court-martial of a 14-year Air Force veteran from Hampton, Va., said Thursday that requiring soldiers to give blood and saliva samples for a DNA registry is the only sure way to identify remains.
Tech. Sgt. Warren J. Sinclair of Hampton violated a written order from his command - the gist of the case, Maj. Christopher Lozo told the military judge, Lt. Col. Linda Murnane, in his opening statements. Mindful of her warning that he must prove the order lawful, he also defended the necessity of the 3-year-old DNA testing program. He cited the Dec. 12, 1985, crash of a military cargo plane in Newfoundland that killed 256 servicemen on their way home to Fort Campbell, Ky. Lozo said it took 10 weeks to identify all the remains.
Attorneys for Sinclair responded that the Defense Department repository lacks sufficient safeguards to prevent the DNA from being used for other purposes.
Defense attorney Eric Seitz contended that forcing Sinclair, 33, to give a blood and saliva sample violated the serviceman's rights against unreasonable search and seizure.
``These concerns go to the heart of whether the program as it existed on Feb. 13, when Sgt. Sinclair was ordered to give a sample, was constitutional and reasonable,'' Seitz said.
Sinclair is the third serviceman this year to go on trial for refusing to give DNA samples to the Pentagon, required so officials can identify remains.
The prosecution called three of Sinclair's superiors, who testified he was sincere when he repeatedly refused to give a sample, despite the threat of discipline.
Seitz said he would call two witnesses today, Sinclair and Dr. Paul Billings of Stanford University's medical school.
Sinclair has said the Air Force ``was my life, until we saw differently. I seek to maintain possession of my genes. The Air Force wants my genes. So basically, we have irreconcilable differences.''
The military contends the program's security has been improved, and Lozo said ``there is no evidence Sgt. Sinclair or anyone else's DNA has been abused.''
Sinclair remains distrustful.
``If I die in battle, just let my remains lay. I'm not really concerned about it. If I don't show up for roll call, my dog tags are there. Just use those records. Right now, it is much too high of a price to pay just for emergency identification,'' he said.
``I just want to make sure that our kids have the same rights that we've enjoyed to this point so far.''
Seitz said he tried to negotiate an honorable discharge for his client, but the military preferred a court-martial.
The Pentagon has been collecting DNA samples from service members for three years. More than 1 million are stored in Gaithersburg, Md.
On April 16, two Marines in Hawaii were convicted of the same crime Sinclair is charged with. Each man received a relatively light sentence: a letter of reprimand and a seven-day restriction that kept him from leaving base.
Sinclair could get a maximum penalty of a bad conduct discharge, six months confinement with hard labor and forfeiture of two-thirds pay for six months. ILLUSTRATION: Tech. Sgt. Warren Sinclair has refused an order to give samples
for DNA. Prosecutors are arguing for the necessity of the samples.
KEYWORDS: DNA MILITARY COURT-MARTIAL by CNB