Suspect must provide new DNA samples

Alleged Golden State Killer tried to block evidence gathering

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Sacramento County judge on Thursday ruled that the Golden State Killer suspect cannot refuse to provide additional DNA samples, fingerprints and photographs of his body sought by authorities as part of their investigation.

In the ruling, the judge agreed with prosecutors who argued that the evidence authorities sought was part of a search warrant already approved by a judge and did not amount to self-incrimination.

Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, is suspected of raping at least 46 women and killing at least a dozen people. He was arrested at his home in the Sacramento suburbs April 24, just days after DNA samples surreptitiously gathered from him by law enforcement linked him to crimes attributed to the Golden State Killer and East Area Rapist.

DeAngelo’s attorney filed a motion earlier this week seeking to prevent sheriff’s investigators from taking additional DNA samples and fingerprints and photographing his body, including his genitals.

“The government seeks to execute a warrant issued before the defendant’s arrest and arraignment,” defense attorney Diane Howard argued in the filing. “But the government’s right to unfettered investigation is substantially curtailed by constitutional concerns which attend the right to a fair trial and a right to counsel.”

For more than 40 years, law enforcement agencies up and down California had hunted for the man who terrorized the East Bay, the Sacramento area and Southern California in the 1970s and ’80s.

Sacramento County investigators announced DeAngelo’s arrest last week and said that not only did his DNA match evidence found at some of the killings, but his known whereabouts also coincided with the timeline of the killings.