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| | 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
HB1134 Introduced 2/17/2021, by Rep. Emanuel Chris Welch SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
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Amends the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963. Makes a technical change in
a
Section concerning preservation of evidence for forensic testing.
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| | A BILL FOR |
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| | HB1134 | | LRB102 03149 RLC 13162 b |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning criminal law.
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| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, |
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
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| 4 | | Section 5. The Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 is |
| 5 | | amended by changing Section 116-4 as follows:
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| 6 | | (725 ILCS 5/116-4)
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| 7 | | Sec. 116-4. Preservation of evidence for forensic testing.
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| 8 | | (a) Before or after the
the trial in a prosecution for a |
| 9 | | violation of
Section 11-1.20, 11-1.30, 11-1.40, 11-1.50, |
| 10 | | 11-1.60, 12-13, 12-14, 12-14.1,
12-15, or 12-16 of the
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| 11 | | Criminal Code of 1961 or the Criminal Code of 2012 or in a |
| 12 | | prosecution for an offense defined in Article 9
of
that Code,
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| 13 | | or in a prosecution for an attempt in violation of Section 8-4 |
| 14 | | of that Code
of any of the above-enumerated
offenses, unless |
| 15 | | otherwise provided herein under subsection (b) or (c), a law
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| 16 | | enforcement agency
or an agent acting on behalf of the law |
| 17 | | enforcement agency shall
preserve, subject to a continuous |
| 18 | | chain of
custody, any
physical evidence
in their possession or |
| 19 | | control that is reasonably likely to contain forensic
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| 20 | | evidence,
including, but not limited to, fingerprints or |
| 21 | | biological material
secured in relation to a trial and with |
| 22 | | sufficient
documentation to locate
that evidence. |
| 23 | | (b) After a judgment of conviction is entered,
the |
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| 1 | | evidence shall
either be impounded
with the Clerk of the |
| 2 | | Circuit Court or shall be securely retained by a law
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| 3 | | enforcement agency.
Retention shall be
permanent in cases |
| 4 | | where a sentence of death is imposed. Retention shall be
until |
| 5 | | the
completion of the sentence, including the period of |
| 6 | | mandatory supervised
release for the
offense, or January 1, |
| 7 | | 2006, whichever is later, for any conviction for an
offense or |
| 8 | | an attempt of an offense defined
in Article 9 of the Criminal |
| 9 | | Code of 1961 or the Criminal Code of 2012 or in Section |
| 10 | | 11-1.20, 11-1.30, 11-1.40, 11-1.50, 11-1.60, 12-13, 12-14, |
| 11 | | 12-14.1,
12-15, or
12-16 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or the |
| 12 | | Criminal Code of 2012 or for 7 years following any conviction |
| 13 | | for any other felony for which
the
defendant's
genetic profile |
| 14 | | may be taken by a law enforcement agency and submitted for
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| 15 | | comparison in a forensic DNA database for unsolved offenses.
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| 16 | | (c) After a judgment of conviction is entered, the
law
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| 17 | | enforcement agency
required to retain evidence described in |
| 18 | | subsection
(a) may petition the court
with notice to the
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| 19 | | defendant or, in cases where the defendant has died, his |
| 20 | | estate, his attorney
of record, or an attorney appointed for |
| 21 | | that purpose by the court
for entry
of an order allowing it to |
| 22 | | dispose of evidence if, after a
hearing, the court
determines |
| 23 | | by a preponderance of the evidence that:
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| 24 | | (1) it has no significant value for forensic science |
| 25 | | analysis and
should
be
returned to its rightful owner, |
| 26 | | destroyed, used for training purposes, or as
otherwise |
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| 1 | | provided by law; or
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| 2 | | (2) it has no significant value for forensic science |
| 3 | | analysis and is of
a size,
bulk, or physical character not |
| 4 | | usually retained by the law enforcement
agency and cannot |
| 5 | | practicably be retained by the law enforcement
agency; or
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| 6 | | (3) there no longer exists a reasonable basis to |
| 7 | | require the
preservation of the
evidence because of the |
| 8 | | death of the defendant; however, this paragraph (3)
does |
| 9 | | not
apply if a sentence of death was imposed.
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| 10 | | (d) The court may order the disposition of the evidence if |
| 11 | | the
defendant is allowed
the opportunity to take reasonable |
| 12 | | measures to remove or preserve portions of
the evidence in
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| 13 | | question for future testing.
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| 14 | | (d-5) Any order allowing the disposition of evidence |
| 15 | | pursuant to
subsection (c)
or (d)
shall be a final and |
| 16 | | appealable order. No evidence shall be disposed of until
30 |
| 17 | | days after
the order is entered, and if a notice of appeal is |
| 18 | | filed, no evidence shall be
disposed of
until the mandate has |
| 19 | | been received by the circuit court from the appellate
court.
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| 20 | | (d-10) All records documenting the possession,
control, |
| 21 | | storage, and destruction of evidence and all police reports, |
| 22 | | evidence
control or inventory records, and other reports cited |
| 23 | | in this Section,
including computer records, must be
retained |
| 24 | | for as
long as the evidence exists and may not be disposed of |
| 25 | | without the approval of
the Local
Records Commission.
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| 26 | | (e) In this Section, "law enforcement agency"
includes any |
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| 1 | | of the following or an agent acting on behalf of any of the
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| 2 | | following:
a municipal police department, county sheriff's |
| 3 | | office, any prosecuting
authority,
the Department of State |
| 4 | | Police, or any other State, university, county,
federal, or
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| 5 | | municipal police
unit or police force.
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| 6 | | "Biological material" includes, but is not limited to, any |
| 7 | | blood, hair,
saliva, or semen from which
genetic marker |
| 8 | | groupings may be obtained.
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| 9 | | (Source: P.A. 96-1551, eff. 7-1-11; 97-1150, eff. 1-25-13.)
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