WASHINGTON — The US Supreme Court on Monday ruled that police can take a DNA sample from someone who has been arrested and charged but not convicted of a crime.

By a 5-4 vote, the court reversed a decision last April by Maryland’s highest court that overturned the 2010 conviction and life sentence of Alonzo Jay King for a rape committed seven years earlier.

The court, in an opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, said the taking of DNA samples is similar to taking fingerprints.