Steven John Carlson was arrested Sunday, August 7th for the alleged stabbing and murder of Foothill High schoolmate Tina Faelz in 1984. The crime shocked the community and many close to the case are remembering the horrific details once again.
Faelz, 14, was last seen alive while walking home from school around 2:25 p.m. on April 5, 1984. Less than an hour after she took a shortcut through a dark culvert underneath Interstate 680, two other students found her body west of the freeway. She had been stabbed more than 15 times. Faelz had been walking home instead of taking the bus because of some problems she had been having with other students.
Carlson, who was 16 at the time of the murder, was taken into custody as he was being released from a Santa Cruz jail for unrelated drug charges and failing to appear in court. Carlson's name was initially not released to news organizations because he was a minor at the time of the murder. However, custody records from the Santa Cruz jail indicate that his arrest is in connection with Faelz's death. Carlson was questioned back in 1984 but was never arrested or charged in the case.
Two separate factors led to Carlson's arrest. First, unlike all other crimes, there is no statute of limitations on murder, allowing an arrest 27 years later. In California, the statute of limitations on any crime other than murder is usually the maximum amount of time a defendant can spend in custody for that offense. For example, the statute of limitations on cocaine possession is three years, and the maximum sentence for cocaine possession is also three years in prison (however, this statute of limitations rule/formula does not equate to an individual defendant's maximum sentence, as repeat offenders and those with prior strikes can receive more time in custody than a first-time offender).
The second significant thing that led to Carlson's arrest is not as new as the age-old lack of a statute of limitations on murder. In 2007, the Pleasanton Police Department re-submitted existing evidence in the Faelz murder to two separate labs for DNA testing. In October of last year, the FBI responded with a possible suspect, leading to Carlson's arrest on Sunday. As more and more criminal defendants are required to submit to DNA testing as a condition of receiving probation (all individuals in California who are sent to prison are already required to provide a DNA sample), law enforcement will have more tools to track down violent offenders.
While a large statewide DNA database may seem like a good thing, there are also privacy concerns. Many people question whether individuals charged with petty crimes really need to provide DNA samples. Others ask if it is ethical when prosecutors allow for fine reductions or waive other conditions of probation in exchange for a DNA sample from a defendant.
As many criminal defense attorneys and advocacy groups such as the Innocence Project are using DNA to help wrongly convicted defendants gain their freedom, law enforcement is also using DNA to solve old or closed cases. It raises the question of whether Carlson would have been free all this time if DNA testing had been available to the police in 1984.
Resources:
Santa Cruz transient arrested in 1984 stabbing death of Pleasanton school girl, MercuryNews.com, August 8, 2011
