New Ohio law requires retention of DNA evidence

July 6, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

DAYTON

Police departments, sheriff’s offices and crime labs must retain biological evidence in certain violent crimes for 30 years or more, under a new law taking effect today.

The law involves evidence from crimes including murder and aggravated murder, vehicular manslaughter, rape and sexual battery.

Advocates say the law will help free wrongly convicted people when new evidence is uncovered. They also say it will give police guidance on what to preserve.

“A lot of agencies save everything until their property room is full. Then they throw out the oldest,” said Mark Godsey, director of the Ohio Innocence Project, which backed the law. “Now they have specific guidelines for a limited number of crimes.”

Godsey says preserving such evidence is crucial to making sure justice is done in a criminal case.

Opponents say the law is unwieldy and another example of an unfunded state mandate at a time when municipalities face severe budget problems.

Agencies may fear getting rid of anything since they won’t know what’s needed down the road, said Ken Betz, director of the Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab.

He also worried his facility will have to do more of the tests that average between $1,200 and $1,400.

The law requires the preservation of sexual assault kits, along with any clothing that contains such biological evidence as blood, semen, hair, saliva, skin tissue, fingernail scrapings, bone or bodily fluids.

The new law also requires the collection of DNA genetic evidence from anyone arrested on a felony charge.