Synopsis of Committee Amendments

Legislative Service Commission

LSC Synopsis of House Amendments

 

Sub. S.B. 262

126th General Assembly

(H. Criminal Justice)

 

 

The House committee amendments do the following:

Allow an eligible inmate whose application for post-conviction DNA testing is approved to request the court to order, or the court on its own initiative to order, BCII to compare the results of DNA testing of biological material from an unidentified person other than the inmate that was obtained from the crime scene or from a victim of the offense to the FBI's Combined DNA Index System and provide that if there is no match to the Combined DNA Index System BCII may compare the test results to other previously obtained and acceptable DNA test results of any person whose identity is known.

Require BCII, if it determines the identity of the person who is the contributor of the biological material through either of the methods described above, to provide that information to the court that accepted the application, the inmate, and the prosecuting attorney and permit this information to be used by the inmate or the state for any lawful purpose.

Include a specific statement that the provisions of R.C. 2953.71 to 2953.82 by which an inmate may obtain post-conviction DNA testing are not the exclusive means by which an inmate may obtain post-conviction DNA testing and that those provisions do not limit or affect any other means by which an inmate may obtain post-conviction DNA testing.

Specify that the Attorney General may approve or designate a testing authority that is equipped to handle advanced DNA testing for DNA testing under R.C. 2953.71 to 2953.82 if the testing authority is in compliance with nationally accepted quality assurance standards for advanced DNA testing and satisfies other specified statutory criteria.

State that it is the General Assembly's intent that the bill's amendments to R.C. 2901.07 (specifies the offenders from which DNA specimens must be collected) apply retrospectively.

 

 

 

S0262-126.doc/ar                                                                                                     5/17/2006