Aggregated News

The long arm of the law just got longer.

The state’s highest court ruled yesterday that prosecutors can indict suspects known only by their DNA profiles and bring them to justice years later when police identify who the genetic material belongs to, even if the statutes of limitation have lapsed.

In the Supreme Judicial Court’s first decision of its kind, the justices unanimously concluded that a DNA profile is an “indelible ‘bar code’ that labels an individual’s identity with nearly irrefutable precision.’’ As such, it can serve as the identity of the person indicted, even though the charging document lists the unknown defendant as John Doe.

The ruling resembles appellate decisions in at least five other states, according to the office of Attorney General Martha Coakley. So-called DNA indictments, she said in a statement, “ensure that the clock does not run out on the use of DNA evidence to hold dangerous predators accountable for their violent acts.’’ Her prosecutors filed a brief supporting such indictments on behalf of the state’s district attorneys and the Executive Office of Public Safety and...