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Author: Yujiemi Chisholm

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County of Monterey

Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni receives a $535,000 federal grant for her cold case task force for use of DNA technology in violent crime investigations and prosecutions

District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni announced today that the U.S. Department of Justice has awarded the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office Cold Case Task Force a $535,000 grant for the use of DNA technology in cold-case investigations and prosecutions. With the support of the grant, the Cold Case Task Force proposes to identify and actively investigate 45 violent-crime cold cases over the next three years where suspect DNA has been identified or where there is DNA evidence that could be used to identify previously unidentified human remains. The grant funding will enable the Task Force to hire an annuitant investigator to exclusively work on qualifying cold cases, as well as to pursue advanced DNA testing at accredited private laboratories.
January 2022
Bureau of Justice Statistics

Medical Examiner and Coroner Offices, 2018

This report provides data on the personnel, budget, workload, and policies of medical examiner and coroner offices in the United States. The report details the number and type of personnel employed, staff certification, and training. It includes the number of cases referred to and accepted by medical examiner and coroner offices, the number of autopsies conducted, and the number of decedents with unidentified remains on record, including the percentage from which DNA evidence has been collected. Findings are based on data from BJS’s 2018 and 2004 Census of Medical Examiner and Coroner Offices [Description provided by the BJS website].
November 2021
Legal Document Repository

Maryland Criminal Procedure – Forensic Genetic Genealogical DNA Analysis and Search – Applicability for Deceased and Missing Individuals

A comprehensive statute governing the application of Forensic Genetic Genealogical DNA Analysis and Search (FGGS) enacted by the Maryland General Assembly and set forth in Title 17 of the Criminal Procedure Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland. The original statute was enacted and went into effect on October 1, 2021. An amendment (effective October 1, 2024) to the law states that its provisions do not apply to the use of FGGS to identify unidentified human remains.
October 2021