Ruestman issues report to Missouri Women's Council

In her latest capitol report, Rep. Marilyn Ruestman, R-Joplin, reprinted the report she wrote for the Missouri Women's Council. The text is featured below:

Missouri had its first “hit”!
I couldn’t be more excited and proud. I was the House sponsor of House Bill 152 which was signed into law this July. This will keep my promise that we would locate felons who are a threat to our young women and children. Let me explain!

I recently attended a press conference held by the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department to honor this legislation. House Bill 152 led to its first arrest of a burglar. (While this event may seem insignificant, it is indicative of something much more important. House Bill 152 is working!)

House Bill 152 is the result of some simple research I was doing a few years ago on the number of rapes and assaults in the State of Missouri. It shocked me to learn that the average rapist commits 8-12 rapes before being caught. In 2007, 1,496 rapes were reported in Missouri. Two-thirds of those rapes were committed against children under the age of 17. Those numbers astounded and appalled me. As we began to search for answers, we discovered Katie’s Law.

Katie Sepich was brutally raped and murdered in 2003. Law enforcement ran the DNA evidence found on her body through the database, but found no match. Three months later her attacker was arrested for another crime and released. No DNA was taken upon his arrest. Had it been taken at that time he would have immediately been matched to Katie’s death and taken off the streets. Instead, he was not charged with the murder of Katie until three years later when he was convicted of other crimes. For three years he was free and able to perform other crimes, even rapes.

When we spoke with Katie’s mother, Jayann, she was already involved in assisting states working on this concept. She believed rapes would be prevented and violent criminals locked up if DNA were taken upon arrest instead of conviction. She lobbied her home state of New Mexico and was able to get it passed fairly quickly. After I filed this legislation two years ago she offered to travel to Missouri to witness at my hearing in Jefferson City.

This year, after a two year fight in the General Assembly we were able to pass Katie’s Law. I am most proud of this accomplishment as a legislator because it is a huge leap forward in protecting the state’s women and children. Unlike other crime prevention measures, you can see tangible results in the number of “hits” in the database. It’s working as I predicted.

Nationwide, Missouri was the 21st state to sign DNA profiling of arrestees into law. It has been fought in courts and repeatedly upheld as constitutional. Recently, John Walsh of America’s Most Wanted joined the fight to prevent these brutal crimes and help pass Katie’s law in the remaining 29 states. I was honored to be given the “Katie’s Heroes” award by Sepich and Walsh. I truly appreciate the recognition, but above all am thrilled to know House Bill 152 is already doing its job here in Missouri and will save lives.