BILL REQ. #:  H-0833.1 

Read first time 01/24/2003.   Referred to Committee on Criminal Justice & Corrections.

     AN ACT Relating to requests for postconviction DNA testing; and amending RCW 10.73.170.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 10.73.170 and 2001 c 301 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) On or before December 31, 2004, a person in this state who has been convicted of a felony and is currently serving a term of imprisonment and who has been denied postconviction DNA testing may submit a request to the state Office of Public Defense, which will transmit the request to the county prosecutor in the county where the conviction was obtained for postconviction DNA testing, if DNA evidence was not admitted because the court ruled DNA testing did not meet acceptable scientific standards or DNA testing technology was not sufficiently developed to test the DNA evidence in the case. On and after January 1, 2005, a person must raise the DNA issues at trial or on appeal.
     (2) The prosecutor shall screen the request. The request shall be reviewed based upon the likelihood that the DNA evidence would demonstrate innocence on a more probable than not basis. The prosecutor shall inform the requestor and the state Office of Public Defense of the decision, and shall, in the case of an adverse decision, advise the requestor of appeals rights. Upon determining that testing should occur and the evidence still exists, the prosecutor shall request DNA testing by the Washington state patrol crime laboratory. Contact with victims shall be handled through victim/witness divisions.
     (3) A person denied a request made pursuant to subsections (1) and (2) of this section has a right to appeal his or her request within thirty days of denial of the request by the prosecutor. The appeal shall be to the attorney general's office. If the attorney general's office determines that it is likely that the DNA testing would demonstrate innocence on a more probable than not basis, then the attorney general's office shall request DNA testing by the Washington state patrol crime laboratory.
     (4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any biological material that has been secured in connection with a criminal case prior to July 22, 2001, may not be destroyed before January 1, 2005.