North Dakota Code 29-32.1-15 – Motion for DNA testing not available at trial
1. Without limitation on a court’s authority to order discovery under section 29-32.1-08, a person convicted of a crime may make a motion for the performance of forensic DNA testing to demonstrate the person’s actual innocence if:
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 29-32.1-15
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Person: means an individual, organization, government, political subdivision, or government agency or instrumentality. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
a. The testing is to be performed on evidence secured in relation to the trial which resulted in the conviction; and
b. The evidence was not subject to the testing because either the technology for the testing was not available at the time of the trial or the testing was not available as evidence at the time of the trial.
2. A person who makes a motion under subsection 1 must present a prima facie case that:
a. Identity was an issue in the trial; and
b. The evidence to be tested has been subject to a chain of custody sufficient to establish that it has not been substituted, tampered with, replaced, or altered in any material aspect.
3. The court shall order that the testing be performed if:
a. A prima facie case has been established under subsection 2; b. The testing has the scientific potential to produce new, noncumulative evidence materially relevant to the defendant‘s assertion of actual innocence; and
c. The testing requested employs a scientific method generally accepted within the relevant scientific community. The court shall impose reasonable conditions on the testing designed to protect the state‘s interests in the integrity of the evidence and the testing process.