SB 110: "An Act relating to the preservation of evidence."
00 SENATE BILL NO. 110 01 "An Act relating to the preservation of evidence." 02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 * Section 1. AS 12.36 is amended by adding a new section to read: 04 Article 2. Preservation of Evidence. 05 Sec. 12.36.200. Preservation of evidence. (a) Notwithstanding AS 12.36.010 - 06 12.36.090, the Department of Law, the Department of Public Safety, the Alaska Court 07 System, or a municipal law enforcement agency shall preserve 08 (1) all evidence that is obtained in relation to an investigation or 09 prosecution of a crime under AS 11.41.100 - 11.41.130, 11.41.410, or 11.41.434 for 10 the period of time that the crime remains unsolved; 11 (2) biological evidence in an amount and manner that is sufficient to 12 develop a DNA profile from any material contained in or included on the evidence 13 that was obtained in relation to the prosecution of a person convicted of a crime under 14 AS 11.41.100 - 11.41.130 or convicted of a crime after being indicted under 15 AS 11.41.410 or 11.41.434 while the person remains a prisoner in the custody of the
01 Department of Corrections or subject to registration as a sex offender. 02 (b) Under (a) of this section, an agency is not required to preserve physical 03 evidence of a crime that is of a size, bulk, quantity, or physical character that renders 04 preservation impracticable. When preservation of evidence of a crime is impracticable, 05 the agency shall, before returning or disposing of the evidence, remove and preserve 06 portions of the material likely to contain relevant evidence related to the crime in a 07 quantity sufficient to permit future DNA testing. 08 (c) Upon written request of a person convicted of a crime and a prisoner or 09 subject to registration as a sex offender, an agency shall prepare or provide an 10 inventory of biological evidence that has been preserved under (a)(2) of this section in 11 connection with the person's criminal case. 12 (d) An agency required to preserve biological evidence under (a) of this 13 section may destroy biological evidence before the expiration of the time period in 14 (a)(2) of this section if 15 (1) the agency is not required to maintain the evidence under another 16 provision of state or federal law; 17 (2) the agency mails a certified delivery of notice of intent to destroy 18 evidence to 19 (A) each person who remains a prisoner or subject to 20 registration as a sex offender for the crime for which the evidence was 21 preserved under (a)(2) of this section; 22 (B) the attorney of record for each person listed in (A) of this 23 paragraph; 24 (C) the Public Defender Agency; 25 (D) the district attorney responsible for prosecuting the crime; 26 (3) no person who is notified under (2) of this subsection, within 120 27 days after receiving the notice, 28 (A) files a motion for testing of the evidence; or 29 (B) submits a written request for continued preservation of the 30 evidence. 31 (e) Upon receipt of a request for continued preservation of biological evidence
01 under (d)(3)(B) of this section, an agency may petition the court for permission to 02 destroy the evidence. The court may grant the petition if the court finds that the 03 request is without merit or that the evidence has no significant value for biological 04 material. 05 (f) When an agency is required to produce biological evidence required to be 06 preserved under this section and the agency is unable to locate the evidence, the chief 07 evidence custodian of that agency shall submit an affidavit, executed under penalty of 08 perjury, describing the evidence that could not be located and detailing the efforts 09 taken to locate the evidence. 10 (g) If a court finds that evidence was destroyed in violation of the provisions 11 of this section, the court may order remedies the court determines to be appropriate. 12 (h) In this section, 13 (1) "agency" means the Department of Law, the Department of Public 14 Safety, the Alaska Court System, or a municipal law enforcement agency; 15 (2) "biological evidence" means 16 (A) the contents of a sexual assault forensic examination kit; 17 (B) semen, blood, hair, saliva, skin tissue, fingernail scrapings, 18 bone, bodily fluids, or other identifiable human bodily material, collected as 19 part of a criminal investigation; 20 (C) a slide, swab, or test tube containing material described in 21 (B) of this paragraph; and 22 (D) swabs or cuttings from items that contain material 23 described in (B) of this section; 24 (3) "DNA" means deoxyribonucleic acid; 25 (4) "prisoner" has the meaning given in AS 33.30.901. 26 * Sec. 2. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 27 read: 28 TASK FORCE ON STANDARDS AND TRAINING OF EVIDENCE 29 TECHNICIANS. (a) The Task Force on Standards and Training of Evidence Technicians is 30 created in the Department of Law. The task force consists of the following persons appointed 31 by the governor:
01 (1) the attorney general; 02 (2) the public defender; 03 (3) the director of the office of public advocacy; 04 (4) a chief of a municipal police department not on the state's interconnected 05 road system; 06 (5) the commissioner of public safety; 07 (6) a chief of a municipal police department; and 08 (7) a representative of the Alaska Innocence Project. 09 (b) There shall be four ex officio members of the task force as follows: 10 (1) the chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court; 11 (2) a member of House Judiciary Committee selected by the speaker of the 12 house of representatives; 13 (3) a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee selected by the president of 14 the senate; and 15 (4) the victims' advocate. 16 (c) Persons appointed under (a) of this section or identified under (b) of this section 17 may select a designee from the same agency or organization to act on the person's behalf as a 18 member of the task force. 19 (d) Not later than December 31, 2010, the task force shall 20 (1) devise standards regarding the proper collection, retention, and cataloging 21 of evidence, for ongoing investigations and prosecutions; 22 (2) recommend practices, protocols, models, and resources for the cataloging 23 and accessibility of preserved evidence. 24 * Sec. 3. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 25 read: 26 APPLICABILITY. AS 12.36.200, enacted in sec. 1 of this Act, applies to all evidence 27 in the possession of an agency listed in AS 12.36.200(a) on the effective date of this Act for 28 crimes committed before the effective date of this Act and all evidence collected on or after 29 the effective date of this Act. 30 * Sec. 4. Section 2 of this Act is repealed January 1, 2011.