Connection: Washington Taking Action

Washington lawmakers have made it easier for death row inmates and those serving life sentences to request and get DNA testing.

Under a bill that passed the Senate Thursday, anyone sentenced to death or life without parole may request DNA testing if such tests were not available when the person was convicted, or not permitted in that particular court.

The bill passed both houses unanimously.

Sponsored by Rep. Lynn Schindler, R-Spokane, the bill is designed to cover only those on death row or facing life terms because the cost of the tests could become prohibitive. In a Senate committee, lawmakers attempted to expand the requirements to include all convictions, but the provision was stripped out in the Senate Budget Committee.

The bill also was changed by the Budget Committee so that prosecutors would review the request, based on the likelihood that DNA evidence would demonstrate innocence.

Anyone who makes such a request and is denied DNA testing, would be given 30 days to appeal to the state office of the attorney general.

By December of next year, the state would produce a report detailing how often the DNA tests were requested, denied, or approved and what the results of such tests were.

After January 1, 2003, the issue of DNA tests must first be raised at trial.

The bill awaits Gov. Gary Locke’s signature.