• Courts & Judicial
• Crimes, Corrections, & Enforcement

The bill establishes definitions, reporting requirements, and legal remedies related to misconduct by crime laboratory employees.

• Knowing Misconduct:

  • A voluntary act or omission by a crime laboratory employee.
  • The employee knows their actions are improper and deceptive.

• Significant Event:

  • A serious deviation from crime laboratory standard procedures, accreditation requirements, or laws.
  • The act could substantially harm the integrity of crime lab work.

• Crime lab employees must report any witnessed or discovered:
  • Knowing misconduct
  • Significant events
• Reports must go to the crime laboratory director or an immediate supervisor, who then reports to the director.
• The director must investigate all reported misconduct.
• The director must review past records to identify wrongful actions by employees before July 1, 2025.

• If wrongful action is discovered, the crime lab director must notify district attorneys with cases affected by the misconduct.
• District attorneys must notify:
  • Defendants in cases involving the employee’s work.
  • Victims (if the case falls under the Victim Rights Act and charges were filed but the trial has not begun).

• A defendant impacted by wrongful action has the right to:
  • Legal counsel.
  • Investigate the wrongful action.
  • Request discovery (evidence) related to the wrongful action.
  • Seek post-conviction relief (appeal their conviction).
• Courts may issue protective orders for discovery requests.

• A convicted defendant can petition for post-conviction relief based on the wrongful action.
• If the petition shows that the misconduct was material to the case, the court must hold an evidentiary hearing.
• At the hearing, the defendant must prove:
  1. The crime lab employee committed wrongful action.
  2. The wrongful action was material to the case.
• If the defendant meets this burden, the court must:
  • Vacate the conviction.
  • Grant a new trial.

The bill defines knowing misconduct as a voluntary act or
omission or series of acts or omissions consciously performed by a crime
laboratory employee (employee) as a result of effort or determination in
which the employee is aware that the employee's conduct is improper and
deceptive. The bill defines a significant event as an act or omission by
an employee that is a gross deviation from the standard operation
procedures or accreditation requirements of the crime laboratory, or
requirements in law that were applicable at the time of the act or omission
of the employee, that could substantially negatively affect the integrity of
the crime laboratory activities.
The bill requires an employee to report witnessed or discovered
knowing misconduct or a significant event (collectively, wrongful
action) to the director of the crime laboratory (director) or to the
employee's immediate supervisor, who shall report it to the director. A
director who receives a report shall investigate the alleged wrongful
action. The bill requires a crime laboratory director to review all records
of the crime laboratory to identify wrongful actions committed prior to
July 1, 2025, by a current or former crime laboratory employee.
The director shall notify each district attorney who has jurisdiction
over a pending case, or a case that resulted in conviction, that the
employee worked on about the reported wrongful action and provide the
district attorney with access to information about the wrongful action.
Upon receipt of a wrongful action report from a director, a district
attorney shall notify the defendant in each case that the employee worked
on about the alleged wrongful action. If the case involved a crime listed
in the Victim Rights Act, the district attorney shall also notify the
victim about the alleged wrongful action, if the charges have been filed
but the trial has not begun.
The bill establishes a defendant's right to counsel in matters
involving an employee's wrongful action and a right to investigate the
wrongful action, to request discovery related to the wrongful action, and
to seek post-conviction relief based on the wrongful action. The bill
permits a court to enter a protective order related to discovery requests.
The bill establishes a process for a defendant convicted in a case
involving an employee's wrongful action to petition for post-conviction
relief based on the wrongful action. If the defendant's petition for
post-conviction relief asserts facts that, if true, demonstrate that a
wrongful action was material to the case, the court shall decide the claim
upon the merits after an evidentiary hearing. At the evidentiary hearing,
the defendant has the burden to show that the employee committed the
wrongful action and that the wrongful action is material to the case. If the
defendant meets their burden, the court shall vacate the defendant's
conviction and grant a new trial.
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