§3600A — Title 18 Crimes and Criminal Procedure | U.S. Code

Summary

The government must keep biological evidence from a federal crime when the defendant is sentenced to prison. Biological evidence means a sexual assault kit or material like semen, blood, saliva, hair, skin tissue, or other identified biological material. The evidence can be destroyed only if, after the conviction is final and direct appeals are used up, the defendant is told it may be destroyed and does not file a motion to save it within 180 days; or if it must be returned or is impractical to keep but portions are saved; or if DNA testing already showed the defendant as the source. The Attorney General had to create rules within 180 days after the Innocence Protection Act of 2004 to enforce this and include employee penalties. Knowingly destroying or tampering with required biological evidence to stop DNA testing or use in a case can lead to a fine, up to 5 years in prison, or both. These rules do not override other laws that require preserving evidence and do not by themselves allow federal habeas relief.

Title 18, §3600A

Crimes and Criminal Procedure — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Government shall preserve biological evidence that was secured in the investigation or prosecution of a Federal offense, if a defendant is sentenced to imprisonment for such offense.

(b)For purposes of this section, the term “biological evidence” means—

(1)a sexual assault forensic examination kit; or

(2)semen, blood, saliva, hair, skin tissue, or other identified biological material.

(c)Subsection (a) shall not apply if—

(1)after a conviction becomes final and the defendant has exhausted all opportunities for direct review of the conviction, the defendant is notified that the biological evidence may be destroyed and the defendant does not file a motion under section 3600 within 180 days of receipt of the notice;

(2)(A)the evidence must be returned to its rightful owner, or is of such a size, bulk, or physical character as to render retention impracticable; and

(B)the Government takes reasonable measures to remove and preserve portions of the material evidence sufficient to permit future DNA testing; or

(3)the biological evidence has already been subjected to DNA testing under section 3600 and the results included the defendant as the source of such evidence.

(d)Nothing in this section shall preempt or supersede any statute, regulation, court order, or other provision of law that may require evidence, including biological evidence, to be preserved.

(e)Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of the Innocence Protection Act of 2004, the Attorney General shall promulgate regulations to implement and enforce this section, including appropriate disciplinary sanctions to ensure that employees comply with such regulations.

(f)Whoever knowingly and intentionally destroys, alters, or tampers with biological evidence that is required to be preserved under this section with the intent to prevent that evidence from being subjected to DNA testing or prevent the production or use of that evidence in an official proceeding, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both.

(g)Nothing in this section shall provide a basis for relief in any Federal habeas corpus proceeding.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The date of enactment of the Innocence Protection Act of 2004, referred to in subsec. (e), is the date of enactment of Pub. L. 108–405, which was approved Oct. 30, 2004.

Amendments

2016—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 114–324, § 11(b)(1), substituted “sentenced to” for “under a sentence of”. Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 114–324, § 11(b)(2), redesignated pars. (3) to (5) as (1) to (3), respectively, and struck out former pars. (1) and (2) which read as follows: “(1) a court has denied a request or motion for DNA testing of the biological evidence by the defendant under section 3600, and no appeal is pending; “(2) the defendant knowingly and voluntarily waived the right to request DNA testing of the biological evidence in a court proceeding conducted after the date of enactment of the Innocence Protection Act of 2004;”.

§3600A Preservation of biological evidence