Citing the DNA-triggered arrest of a suspect in the Grim Sleeper serial murder case, state Attorney General Jerry Brown says he'll defend the state against an ACLU lawsuit that challenge's California's collection of DNA from every convicted felon.

The A.G.'s lawyers on Tuesday, in fact, will represent the people at the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case challenging voter-approved Prop. 69, which mandates the kind of DNA collection that lead authorities to suspected Grim Sleeper Lonnie Franklin Jr. in South Los Angeles.

Brown will address the media at 8:30 a.m. 10 a.m.Tuesday outside the federal courthouse in San Francisco, declaring that he'll fight “to preserve a key part of the state's DNA identification system, which has helped to snare suspects in more than 12,000 criminal investigations, including, last week, the alleged perpetrator of the Grim Sleeper murders,” according to a statement from his office.

The ACLU argues that the DNA collection violates the constitutional right against unreasonable searches and seizures. The group filed suit against the state in October.

Franklin was arrested last week after his son's DNA was collected as part of a conviction. A “familial” link to evidence in the Grim Sleeper case was allegedly established, and Franklin now faces 10 counts of murder.

Brown, by the way, is running for governor.

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