SCS/SB 732 - This act modifies provisions relating to custodial interrogations and biological evidence procedures. CUSTODIAL INTERROGATIONS (590.700) This act specifies that custodial interrogation is the questioning of a person in a fixed place of detention. Current law requires custodial interrogations be recorded when feasible. This act requires law enforcement agencies to document instances when recording an interrogation is not feasible. Current law allows law enforcement officers to not record custodial interrogations if the equipment fails or is not available at the location of the interrogation. This act provides that, if the equipment fails or is not available, the law enforcement agency must demonstrate a good faith effort to maintain recording equipment for interrogations to be in compliance with the statute. In addition, this act repeals the current penalty for failure to comply with the statute that allows the governor to withhold funding from the noncompliant law enforcement agency and a provision that prohibits compliance with the statute from being raised in a criminal trial. The jury must be instructed that it may consider credible evidence of compliance or noncompliance with the recording requirements to determine whether the defendant's statement was voluntary and reliable. This act also requires the preservation of electronic recordings of interrogations until the offender can no longer appeal a conviction or when prosecution of the offense is barred by law. BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE PROCEDURES (650.056, 650.070, & 650.075) Current law requires investigating law enforcement agencies to preserve all DNA evidence leading to a conviction of certain types of felonies. This act modifies that list of felonies. Under this act, any biological evidence gathered during an investigation of the specified felonies must be preserved by the agency until any offender who was convicted and sentenced to prison as a result of the investigation has been released from prison. Biological evidence gathered during an investigation of first degree murder must be retained until twenty years after the offender has been executed or upon being pardoned or otherwise found innocent. This act requires the evidence to be retained in a manner that preserves any possible DNA evidence for further testing. If the crime remains unsolved, the evidence must be preserved until the prosecuting attorney authorizes its destruction. This act requires law enforcement agencies to develop written guidelines for the identification, collection, and preservation of biological evidence. In addition, crime labs are required to establish testing procedures. Under this act, procedures are established for situations in which DNA testing will consume an entire biological sample. This act is similar to SB 162 (2013). MEGHAN LUECKE
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