Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed legislation that could lead to cold case closures across the Sunshine State.
The bill (HB 533), which goes into effect immediately, requires all Florida inmates who don’t already have DNA in the state’s database to provide a sample by Sept. 30.
State law already requires many individuals arrested or convicted of certain offenses to submit DNA samples, including those charged with sexual assault, indecent exposure, murder, robbery, battery, burglary, felony firearm violations and theft.
The samples then go into a database for cross reference. Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials say they lead to more than 4,500 hits yearly in unsolved crimes.
But according to the bill’s Republican sponsors, Spring Hill Sen. Blaise Ingoglia and Miami Lakes Rep. Tom Fabricio, close to half of Florida’s inmates have never given DNA samples due to a “loophole” HB 533 closes.
“This bill … will allow us to obtain DNA evidence from all persons incarcerated in Florida state prisons so that our backlog of cases can be closed, which will bring finality and closure to many Florida families,” Fabricio said in a statement.
DeSantis signed the measure Friday. Lawmakers passed it unanimously.
Ingoglia called the bill “very important” but “simple.” It adds just one paragraph to Florida Statutes.
It would have been a boon to another proposal (SB 350, HB 837) by Tamarac Sen. Rosalind Osgood and Miami Gardens Rep. Christopher Benjamin, both Democrats, that gained little traction this year.
If passed, their bills would have made it easier for families of unsolved murder victims to reopen their cases.
According to Project: Cold Case, a Jacksonville-based nonprofit, there were 57,181 homicides in Florida from 1965 to 2021. Of those, 19,549 remain unsolved.
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Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics contributed to this report.
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