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92_HB5444eng HB5444 Engrossed LRB9214627RCcd 1 AN ACT in relation to criminal law. 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3 represented in the General Assembly: 4 Section 5. The Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 is 5 amended by changing Section 116-4 as follows: 6 (725 ILCS 5/116-4) 7 Sec. 116-4. Preservation of evidence for forensic 8 testing. 9 (a) Before or after the trial in a prosecution for a 10 violation of Section 12-13, 12-14, 12-14.1, 12-15, or 12-16 11 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or in a prosecution for an 12 offense defined in Article 9 of that Code, or in a 13 prosecution for an attempt in violation of Section 8-4 of 14 that Code of any of the above-enumerated offenses, unless 15 otherwise provided herein under subsection (b) or (c), a law 16 enforcement agency or an agent acting on behalf of the law 17 enforcement agency mustshallpreserve, subject to a 18 continuous chain of custody, any physical evidence in their 19 possession or control that is reasonably likely to contain 20 forensic evidence, including, but not limited to, 21 fingerprints or biological material secured in relation to a 22 trial and with sufficient documentation to locate that 23 evidence. 24 (b) After a judgment of conviction is entered, the 25 evidence shall either be impounded with the Clerk of the 26 Circuit Court or shall be securely retained by a law 27 enforcement agency. Retention shall be permanent in cases 28 where a sentence of death is imposed. Retention shall be 29 until the completion of the sentence, including the period of 30 mandatory supervised release for the offense, or January 1, 31 2006, whichever is later, for any conviction for an offense HB5444 Engrossed -2- LRB9214627RCcd 1 or an attempt of an offense defined in Article 9 of the 2 Criminal Code of 1961 or in Section 12-13, 12-14, 12-14.1, 3 12-15, or 12-16 of the Criminal Code of 1961 or for 7 years 4 following any conviction for any other felony for which the 5 defendant's genetic profile may be taken by a law enforcement 6 agency and submitted for comparison in a forensic DNA 7 database for unsolved offenses. 8 (c) After a judgment of conviction is entered, the law 9 enforcement agency required to retain evidence described in 10 subsection (a) may petition the court with notice to the 11 defendant or, in cases where the defendant has died, his 12 estate, his attorney of record, or an attorney appointed for 13 that purpose by the court for entry of an order allowing it 14 to dispose of evidence if, after a hearing, the court 15 determines by a preponderance of the evidence that: 16 (1) it has no significant value for forensic 17 science analysis and should be returned to its rightful 18 owner, destroyed, used for training purposes, or as 19 otherwise provided by law; or 20 (2) it has no significant value for forensic 21 science analysis and is of a size, bulk, or physical 22 character not usually retained by the law enforcement 23 agency and cannot practicably be retained by the law 24 enforcement agency; or 25 (3) there no longer exists a reasonable basis to 26 require the preservation of the evidence because of the 27 death of the defendant; however, this paragraph (3) does 28 not apply if a sentence of death was imposed. 29 (d) The court may order the disposition of the evidence 30 if the defendant is allowed the opportunity to take 31 reasonable measures to remove or preserve portions of the 32 evidence in question for future testing. 33 (d-5) Any order allowing the disposition of evidence 34 pursuant to subsection (c) or (d) shall be a final and HB5444 Engrossed -3- LRB9214627RCcd 1 appealable order. No evidence shall be disposed of until 30 2 days after the order is entered, and if a notice of appeal is 3 filed, no evidence shall be disposed of until the mandate has 4 been received by the circuit court from the appellate court. 5 (d-10) All records documenting the possession, control, 6 storage, and destruction of evidence and all police reports, 7 evidence control or inventory records, and other reports 8 cited in this Section, including computer records, must be 9 retained for as long as the evidence exists and may not be 10 disposed of without the approval of the Local Records 11 Commission. 12 (e) In this Section, "law enforcement agency" includes 13 any of the following or an agent acting on behalf of any of 14 the following: a municipal police department, county 15 sheriff's office, any prosecuting authority, the Department 16 of State Police, or any other State, university, county, 17 federal, or municipal police unit or police force. 18 "Biological material" includes, but is not limited to, 19 any blood, hair, saliva, or semen from which genetic marker 20 groupings may be obtained. 21 (Source: P.A. 91-871, eff. 1-1-01; 92-459, eff. 8-22-01.)