Supreme Court may put Katie's Law in jeopardy

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - There is a lot at stake for New Mexico if the U.S. Supreme Court rules against a Maryland law that requires DNA testing of criminal suspects.
    
A loss in the nation's highest court would put dozens of New Mexico cases of murder, rape and burglary in jeopardy.

Katie's Law in New Mexico allows police to collect DNA samples from suspects arrested for felony crimes.
    
Twenty five other states have adopted a similar law, including Maryland.
    
The Supreme Court will soon make a decision on a 2009 case from Maryland, involving a man arrested for assault.
    
When his DNA was collected, it connected him to an unsolved home invasion and rape.
    
He says his privacy and fourth amendment rights were violated.
    
New Mexico’s law is called Katie’s Law named in memory of Katie Sepich, a New Mexico State University student murdered in 2003.
    
The governor's office says the law has helped solve 380 cases in New Mexico.
    
All those cases could be found invalid if the Supreme Court strikes down the Maryland law.
    
However, Katie’s mother, Jayann Sepich, says she's actually happy the country's highest court will clear things up once and for all.

“We’ve been waiting a long time for this to get to the Supreme Court...because we believe very strongly that the Supreme Court will uphold it as constitutional...so we are very happy about this,” Sepich said.
      
The governor announced Monday her administration will file written arguments in hopes the country's top court will uphold the law.

New Mexico’s Katie’s Law is the toughest in the U.S. because suspects are given a DNA test at booking.
    
Maryland's law takes the DNA sample after the suspect has been arraigned which usually means they've been indicted by a grand jury.