[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1700 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1700

 To amend the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to allow a defendant 
to make a motion for forensic testing not available at trial regarding 
                           actual innocence.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 6, 1999

  Mr. Durbin introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure to allow a defendant 
to make a motion for forensic testing not available at trial regarding 
                           actual innocence.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as ``The Right to Use Technology in the Hunt 
for Truth Act'' or ``TRUTH Act''.

SEC. 2. MOTION FOR FORENSIC TESTING NOT AVAILABLE AT TRIAL REGARDING 
              ACTUAL INNOCENCE.

    (a) In General.--The Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure are 
amended by inserting after rule 33 the following:
``Rule 33.1. Motion for forensic testing not available at trial 
              regarding actual innocence
    ``(a) Motion by Defendant.--A court on a motion of a defendant may 
order the performance of forensic DNA testing on evidence that was 
secured in relation to the trial of that defendant which resulted in 
the defendant's conviction, but which was not subject to the testing 
which is now requested because the technology for the testing was not 
available at the time of trial. Reasonable notice of the motion shall 
be served upon the Government.
    ``(b) Prima Facie Case.--The defendant shall present a prima facie 
case that--
            ``(1) identity was an issue in the trial which resulted in 
        the conviction of the defendant; and
            ``(2) the evidence to be tested has been subject to a chain 
        of custody sufficient to establish that the evidence has not 
        been substituted, tampered with, replaced, or altered in any 
        material aspect.
    ``(c) Determination of the Court.--The court shall allow the 
testing under reasonable conditions designed to protect the interests 
of the Government in the evidence and the testing process upon a 
determination that--
            ``(1) the result of the testing has the scientific 
        potential to produce new, noncumulative evidence materially 
        relevant to the defendant's assertion of actual innocence; and
            ``(2) the testing requested employs a scientific method 
        generally accepted within the relevant scientific community.''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for the Federal Rules 
of Criminal Procedure are amended by adding after the item for rule 33 
the following:

``33.1. Motion for forensic testing not available at trial regarding 
                            actual innocence.''.
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