PRINTER'S NO. 1093
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
891
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY MATZIE, MAHONEY, HARHAI, DeLUCA, DEASY, FRANKEL,
J. HARRIS, SCHLOSSBERG, THOMAS, KINSEY, BROWNLEE, STURLA,
BISHOP, MILLARD, MURT, C. PARKER, COHEN, READSHAW AND
PASHINSKI, APRIL 6, 2015
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, APRIL 6, 2015
AN ACT
Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes, providing for crime labs, for
procedure, for remedies, for standards and training and for
centralized tracking system.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
Statutes is amended by adding a chapter to read:
CHAPTER 95
CRIME LABS
Sec.
9501. Definitions.
9502. Procedure.
9503. Remedies.
9504. Standards and training.
9505. Centralized tracking.
§ 9501. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this chapter
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shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Biological evidence." Evidence collected in connection with
a criminal investigation which may contain biological material
from a victim, suspect or crime scene in an offense that was the
subject of a criminal investigation, or may reasonably be used
to incriminate or exculpate a person for the offense.
"Custody." Actual or constructive control of:
(1) a person under sentence of imprisonment;
(2) a probationer, parolee or person on extended
supervision of the Department of Corrections; or
(3) a person under a dispositional order, in
institutional care, on conditional release or on supervised
release under a commitment order.
"DNA." Deoxyribonucleic acid.
"Inmate." A person convicted, on probation or parole,
civilly committed or subject to registration as a sex offender
in connection with a case.
"Profile." A unique identifier of an individual derived from
DNA.
"State." A governmental or public entity within the
Commonwealth, its officials or employees, including:
(1) Law enforcement agencies.
(2) Prosecutor's offices.
(3) Courts.
(4) Public hospitals.
(5) Crime laboratories.
(6) Other entities or individuals charged with the
collection, storage or retrieval of biological evidence.
§ 9502. Procedure.
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(a) Duty.--The State shall preserve biological evidence
secured in relation to an investigation or prosecution of a
felony for the period of time an inmate remains under State
jurisdiction. This includes evidence:
(1) In possession of the State during the investigation
and prosecution of the case.
(2) Likely to contain biological material at the time of
conviction.
(b) Prohibition.--The State may not destroy biological
evidence so long as a codefendant is an inmate in connection
with the case.
(c) Retention of evidence.--The State shall retain evidence
in an amount and manner sufficient to develop a DNA profile from
the biological material contained in or included on the
evidence.
(d) Inventory.--The State shall prepare an inventory of the
biological evidence that has been preserved in connection with
the case.
(e) Destruction of evidence.--The State may destroy evidence
before the expiration of the time specified in subsection (a) if
all of the following apply:
(1) No other provision of Federal or State law requires
the State to preserve the evidence.
(2) The State sends a notice of an intent to destroy,
with an affidavit of service, to:
(i) The inmate.
(ii) The attorney of record for each inmate.
(iii) The public defender.
(iv) The district attorney.
(v) The Attorney General.
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(3) No person notified under paragraph (2) does either
of the following within 180 days of the date of service:
(i) files a motion for testing of the evidence under
42 Pa.C.S. § 9543.1 (relating to postconviction DNA
testing); or
(ii) submits a written request for retention of
evidence to the State.
(f) Duty to retain evidence.--If, after providing a notice
of intent to destroy under subsection (e)(2), the State receives
a written request for retention of the evidence, the State shall
retain the evidence until the inmate is no longer in custody.
(g) Evidence to be returned to its owner.--The State may not
be required to preserve evidence that must be returned to its
rightful owner, or is of a size, bulk or physical character as
to render retention impracticable, if practical. The State shall
remove and preserve portions of this material evidence
sufficient to permit future DNA testing before returning or
disposing of it.
(h) Missing biological evidence.--If the State is called
upon to produce biological evidence that could not be located,
and whose preservation was required under the provisions of this
chapter, the chief evidence custodian assigned to the entity
charged with the preservation of the evidence shall provide an
affidavit in which the chief evidence custodian stipulates,
under penalty of perjury, the efforts taken to locate the
evidence and that the evidence could not be located.
§ 9503. Remedies.
The court may impose appropriate sanctions or remedies, such
as contempt, granting a new trial, dismissal of charges,
sentence reduction or sentence modification if the court
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determines that evidence was destroyed in violation of the
provisions of this chapter.
§ 9504. Standards and training.
(a) Standards.--The State shall devise standards for the
proper collection and retention of biological evidence.
(b) Training programs.--The Attorney General shall
administer and conduct training programs for law enforcement
officers and other relevant employees who are charged with
preserving biological evidence regarding the methods and
procedures referenced in this chapter.
§ 9505. Centralized tracking.
(a) Duty to develop.--The State shall develop a method to
centrally track biological evidence in its control.
(b) Functioning.--The State shall allow evidence connected
to either open cases or postconviction DNA testing cases to be
located expeditiously.
Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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