AI-assisted research summary: Law enforcement agencies must send qualifying sexual-assault or sex-offense evidence to a public accredited crime laboratory within 30 days, and labs must finish analysis within 90 days when resources allow.
Sec. 420.042. ANALYSIS OF EVIDENCE. (a) A law enforcement agency that receives evidence of a sexual assault or other sex offense that is collected under this chapter or other law shall submit that evidence to a public accredited crime laboratory for analysis not later than the 30th day after the date on which that evidence was received. (b) Repealed by Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 817 (H.B. 2462), Sec. 17, eff. September 1, 2021. (c) If sufficient personnel and resources are available, a public accredited crime laboratory, as soon as practicable but not later than the 90th day after the date on which the laboratory received the evidence, shall complete its analysis of evidence of a sexual assault or other sex offense that is submitted under this chapter or other law. (c-1) With respect to a criminal case in which evidence of a sexual assault or other sex offense is collected and the number of offenders is uncertain or unknown, a public accredited crime laboratory shall analyze any evidence of the sexual assault or other sex offense submitted to the laboratory under this chapter or other law that is necessary to identify the offender or offenders. (d) To ensure the expeditious completion of analyses, the department and other applicable public accredited crime laboratories may contract with private accredited crime laboratories as appropriate to perform those analyses, subject to the necessary quality assurance reviews by the public accredited crime laboratories. (e) The failure of a law enforcement agency to take possession of evidence of a sexual assault or other sex offense within the period required by Section 420.035 or to submit that evidence within the period required by this section does not affect the authority of: (1) the agency to take possession of the evidence; (2) the agency to submit the evidence to an accredited crime laboratory for analysis; (3) an accredited crime laboratory to analyze the evidence or provide the results of that analysis to appropriate persons; or (4) the department or a public accredited crime laboratory authorized under Section 420.043(b) to compare the DNA profile obtained from the biological evidence with DNA profiles in the databases described by Section 420.043(a). (f) Failure to comply with the requirements under this section does not affect the admissibility of the evidence in a trial of the offense. (g) A law enforcement agency that fails to submit evidence of a sexual assault or other sex offense to a public accredited crime laboratory within the period required by this section shall provide to the department written documentation of the failure, including a detailed explanation for the failure. The agency shall submit the documentation required by this subsection on or before the 30th day after the date on which the agency discovers that the evidence was not submitted within the period required by this section. Added by Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1105 (S.B. 1636), Sec. 5, eff. September 1, 2011. Amended by: Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 408 (H.B. 8), Sec. 8, eff. September 1, 2019. Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 817 (H.B. 2462), Sec. 15, eff. September 1, 2021. Acts 2021, 87th Leg., R.S., Ch. 817 (H.B. 2462), Sec. 17, eff. September 1, 2021.