Supreme Court of Connecticut
State of Connecticut v. Mark Banks.
July 5, 2016321 Conn. 821
Summary
The court affirmed the Appellate Court's judgment upholding both the trial court's authority to authorize reasonable physical force to obtain the defendant's DNA sample and the defendant's conviction for refusing to provide one. It held that the DNA-collection statute is regulatory rather than punitive, so the trial court had subject matter jurisdiction and the statute did not violate the federal Ex Post Facto Clause. It further held that, even before an express 2011 amendment, the statute implicitly authorized reasonable force because the mandatory DNA-collection requirement would otherwise be ineffective.