"Johnia Berry Act"

Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey
State of Tennessee Legislative Weekly Wrap-up

“Johnia Berry Act” approved by Senate Judiciary Committee

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed a bill on Tuesday to require all individuals arrested for violent felonies to provide a DNA sample to the TBI. The “Johnia Berry Act” is named for an ETSU graduate who was murdered in Knoxville after moving there to work on her graduate degree.

Current law provides that persons provide a DNA sample only after they have been convicted and sentenced for certain violent felonies. DNA samples are the fingerprints of the 21st century and are an essential crime fighting tool. I sponsored the bill to increase the chances of catching violent criminals and to exonerate those who may have been wrongly charged.

Johnia Berry was an ETSU graduate that had moved to Knoxville to enroll at UT to work on a Master’s Degree. On December 6, 2004, someone entered her apartment and brutally murdered her. The killer has not been found despite the fact that DNA evidence was taken at the scene. The parents of Johnia feel that Tennessee does not have enough DNA samples in their data bank. Last year, I worked with the TBI to get more funding and staffing for the DNA data bank program. This year I hope to gain passage in both the House and Senate for the bill.

The legislation now heads to the Senate Finance Committee.

More about the bill: http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/bills/currentga/BILL/SB1196.pdf.