1Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
2Consolidated Statutes, providing for crime labs, for
3procedure, for remedies, for standards and training and for
4centralized tracking system.

5The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
6hereby enacts as follows:

7Section 1. Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
8Statutes is amended by adding a chapter to read:

9CHAPTER 95

10CRIME LABS

11Sec.

129501. Definitions.

139502. Procedure.

149503. Remedies.

159504. Standards and training.

169505. Centralized tracking.

17§ 9501. Definitions.

18The following words and phrases when used in this chapter

1shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
2context clearly indicates otherwise:

3"Biological evidence." Evidence collected in connection with
4a criminal investigation which may contain biological material
5from a victim, suspect or crime scene in an offense that was the
6subject of a criminal investigation, or may reasonably be used
7to incriminate or exculpate a person for the offense.

8"Custody." Actual or constructive control of:

9(1) a person under sentence of imprisonment;

10(2) a probationer, parolee or person on extended
11supervision of the Department of Corrections; or

12(3) a person under a dispositional order, in
13institutional care, on conditional release or on supervised
14release under a commitment order.

15"DNA." Deoxyribonucleic acid.

16"Inmate." A person convicted, on probation or parole,
17civilly committed or subject to registration as a sex offender
18in connection with a case.

19"Profile." A unique identifier of an individual derived from
20DNA.

21"State." A governmental or public entity within the
22Commonwealth, its officials or employees, including, but not
23limited to:

24(1) Law enforcement agencies.

25(2) Prosecutor's offices.

26(3) Courts.

27(4) Public hospitals.

28(5) Crime laboratories.

29(6) Other entities or individuals charged with the
30collection, storage or retrieval of biological evidence.

1§ 9502. Procedure.

2(a) Duty.--The State shall preserve biological evidence
3secured in relation to an investigation or prosecution of a
4felony for the period of time an inmate remains under State
5jurisdiction. This includes evidence:

6(1) In possession of the State during the investigation
7and prosecution of the case.

8(2) Likely to contain biological material at the time of
9conviction.

10(b) Prohibition.--The State shall not destroy biological
11evidence so long as a codefendant is an inmate in connection
12with the case.

13(c) Retention of evidence.--The State shall retain evidence
14in an amount and manner sufficient to develop a DNA profile from
15the biological material contained in or included on the
16evidence.

17(d) Inventory.--The State shall prepare an inventory of the
18biological evidence that has been preserved in connection with
19the case.

20(e) Destruction of evidence.--The State may destroy evidence
21before the expiration of the time specified in subsection (a) if
22all of the following apply:

23(1) No other provision of Federal or State law requires
24the State to preserve the evidence.

25(2) The State sends a notice of an intent to destroy,
26with an affidavit of service, to:

27(i) The inmate.

28(ii) The attorney of record for each inmate.

29(iii) The public defender.

30(iv) The district attorney.

1(v) The Attorney General.

2(3) No person notified under paragraph (2) does either
3of the following within 180 days of the date of service:

4(i) files a motion for testing of the evidence under
542 Pa.C.S. § 9543.1 (relating to postconviction DNA
6testing); or

7(ii) submits a written request for retention of
8evidence to the State.

9(f) Duty to retain evidence.--If, after providing a notice
10of intent to destroy under subsection (e)(2), the State receives
11a written request for retention of the evidence, the State shall
12retain the evidence until the inmate is no longer in custody.

13(g) Evidence to be returned to its owner.--The State shall
14not be required to preserve evidence that must be returned to
15its rightful owner, or is of such size, bulk or physical
16character as to render retention impracticable, if practical.
17The State shall remove and preserve portions of this material
18evidence sufficient to permit future DNA testing before
19returning or disposing of it.

20(h) Missing biological evidence.--Should the State be called
21upon to produce biological evidence that could not be located,
22and whose preservation was required under the provisions of this
23chapter, the chief evidence custodian assigned to the entity
24charged with the preservation of the evidence shall provide an
25affidavit in which the chief evidence custodian stipulates,
26under penalty of perjury, the efforts taken to locate the
27evidence and that the evidence could not be located.

28§ 9503. Remedies.

29The court may impose appropriate sanctions or remedies, such
30as contempt, granting a new trial, dismissal of charges,

1sentence reduction or sentence modification if the court
2determines that evidence was destroyed in violation of the
3provisions of this chapter.

4§ 9504. Standards and training.

5(a) Standards.--The State shall devise standards for the
6proper collection and retention of biological evidence.

7(b) Training programs.--The Attorney General shall
8administer and conduct training programs for law enforcement
9officers and other relevant employees who are charged with
10preserving biological evidence regarding the methods and
11procedures referenced in this chapter.

12§ 9505. Centralized tracking.

13(a) Duty to develop.--The State shall develop a method to
14centrally track biological evidence in its control.

15(b) Functioning.--The State shall allow evidence connected
16to either open cases or postconviction DNA testing cases to be
17located expeditiously.

18Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.