Virginia Code 19.2-11.9: (Effective until July 1, 2025) Lack of compliance with procedures
The failure of a law-enforcement agency to take possession of a physical evidence recovery kit as provided in this chapter or to submit a physical evidence recovery kit to the Department within the time period prescribed under this chapter does not alter the authority of the law-enforcement agency to take possession of the physical evidence recovery kit or to submit the physical evidence recovery kit to the Department under this chapter or the authority of the Department to accept and analyze the physical evidence recovery kit or to maintain or upload any developed DNA profiles from the physical evidence recovery kit into any local, state, or national DNA data bank if eligible as determined by Department procedures and in accordance with state and federal law.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 19.2-11.9
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Department: means the Virginia Department of Forensic Science. See Virginia Code 19.2-11.5
- 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.
- Law-enforcement agency: means the state or local law-enforcement agency with the primary responsibility for investigating an alleged sexual assault offense case and includes the employees of that agency. See Virginia Code 19.2-11.5
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
- Physical evidence recovery kit: means any evidence collection kit supplied by the Department to health care providers for use in collecting evidence from victims of sexual assault during forensic medical examinations or to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for use during death investigations to collect evidence from decedents who may be victims of sexual assault. See Virginia Code 19.2-11.5
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
A person accused or convicted of committing a crime against a sexual assault victim has no standing to object to any failure to comply with the requirements of this chapter, and the failure to comply with the requirements of this chapter is not grounds for challenging the admissibility of the evidence or setting aside the conviction or sentence.