A bill that would allow police to collect DNA evidence from people arrested on a felony charge passed the Indiana Senate on third reading Tuesday. Senate Bill 322 now goes to the House.
“One step down and two to go,” Boone County Prosecutor Todd Meyer said. “I am very happy to learn this legislation passed the Senate and is on its way to the House.”
Meyer expressed hope the bill would move on to Gov. Eric Holcomb for his approval.
Legislators representing portions of Boone County are working to ensure the bill’s passage.
On Feb. 23 the bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee 13-0. Joining that vote, and being added as a co-author, was Sen. Phil Boots, R-Crawfordsville, whose district includes Center, Jackson, Harrison, Perry and Worth townships, along with part of Eagle Township, in Boone County.
Assistant Majority Caucus Chairman Rep. Greg Steuerwald, R-Danville, is sponsoring the bill in the House. Rep. Donna Schaibley, R-Carmel, whose district includes Zionsville and most of Worth Township, and Rep. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, were added as co-sponsors.
An impetus for the bill was the Sept. 28, 2016, slaying of John A. “Jac” Clements, 82, Zionsville, shot four times as he walked back to his home after checking his mail.
Damoine A. Wilcoxson, 22, Indianapolis, is accused of killing Clements. Meyer said DNA evidence collected at the Zionsville scene, and at crime scenes in Indianapolis, helped investigators narrow their suspect search to Wilcoxson, whose DNA was on file after his 2010 arrest in Ohio on a robbery charge.
“That really piqued my interest and made me want to participate in this,” Schaibley said Tuesday afternoon.
“I’m very pleased that it passed,” she said. A companion bill — for which she was a co-author — passed the House 81-16 on Feb. 21, she said.
“The house bill and the senate bills are very similar,” Schaibley said. “They have some minor differences but nothing that can’t be ironed out.”
Schaibley said she was “very confident” a conference committee would resolve the differences.
Sheriff Mike Nielsen and Zionsville Police Chief Rob Knox testified on behalf of the bill during appropriation committee hearings.