Sec. 420.042. ANALYSIS OF EVIDENCE. (a) A law enforcement agency that receives evidence of a sexual assault or other sex offense that is collected under this chapter or other law shall submit that evidence to a public accredited crime laboratory for analysis not later than the 30th day after the date on which that evidence was received.

(b) A person who submits evidence of a sexual assault or other sex offense to a public accredited crime laboratory under this chapter or other law shall provide the following signed, written certification with each submission: "This evidence is being submitted by (name of person making submission) in connection with a criminal investigation."

(c) If sufficient personnel and resources are available, a public accredited crime laboratory, as soon as practicable but not later than the 90th day after the date on which the laboratory received the evidence, shall complete its analysis of evidence of a sexual assault or other sex offense that is submitted under this chapter or other law.

(c-1) With respect to a criminal case in which evidence of a sexual assault or other sex offense is collected and the number of offenders is uncertain or unknown, a public accredited crime laboratory shall analyze any evidence of the sexual assault or other sex offense submitted to the laboratory under this chapter or other law that is necessary to identify the offender or offenders.

(d) To ensure the expeditious completion of analyses, the department and other applicable public accredited crime laboratories may contract with private accredited crime laboratories as appropriate to perform those analyses, subject to the necessary quality assurance reviews by the public accredited crime laboratories.

(e) The failure of a law enforcement agency to take possession of evidence of a sexual assault or other sex offense within the period required by Section 420.035 or to submit that evidence within the period required by this section does not affect the authority of:

(1) the agency to take possession of the evidence;

(2) the agency to submit the evidence to an accredited crime laboratory for analysis;

(3) an accredited crime laboratory to analyze the evidence or provide the results of that analysis to appropriate persons; or

(4) the department or a public accredited crime laboratory authorized under Section 420.043(b) to compare the DNA profile obtained from the biological evidence with DNA profiles in the databases described by Section 420.043(a).

(f) Failure to comply with the requirements under this section does not affect the admissibility of the evidence in a trial of the offense.

Added by Acts 2011, 82nd Leg., R.S., Ch. 1105 (S.B. 1636), Sec. 5, eff. September 1, 2011.

Amended by:

Acts 2019, 86th Leg., R.S., Ch. 408 (H.B. 8), Sec. 8, eff. September 1, 2019.