MANATEE -- DNA of Delmer Smith, whose murder trial begins with jury selection at 9 a.m. today, was not found in the Terra Ceia home of Kathleen Briles who was allegedly bludgeoned to death Aug. 3, 2009 with an antique sewing machine.

His DNA was, however, found in four Sarasota homes he allegedly robbed, attacking the women who lived there, prior to Briles' death.

The only problem was police could not identify the person behind the attacks because the DNA was not logged in the FBI's database.

Smith's DNA was taken in March 2008 while he was serving time in federal prison for a bank robbery. It was placed with thousands of other DNA samples waiting to be processed by the FBI.

When the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office sent off the DNA found at crime scenes on Feb. 22, March 7, March 14 and May 22, no matches were found.

Smith was first identified as the suspect in more than 10 home invasion robberies in Manatee and Sarasota counties after he got into a bar fight in Venice. Because he was on probation police searched his belongings, finding several items allegedly stolen in the previous home invasions.

Smith's DNA was fast-tracked into the system and matched the samples found at the Sarasota crime scenes.

DNA does not play a role in the Briles' case, but local law enforcement agencies rely on it in many instances.

"We send DNA from crime scenes off for analysis all the time. It makes cases," said Manatee County Sher

iff Brad Steube.

Originally posted here:
Federal DNA backlog remains clear since September 2010