DNA Bill Clears Senate

The Senate has given final clearance to a bill that guarantees prison inmates a new trial if law enforcement authorities fail to preserve DNA evidence.

SB 205, which was motivated by the case of a Denver resident convicted of rape on the basis of the victim's testimony that she saw him in a dream, passed third reading Wednesday on a 23-9 vote.

Sponsoring Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, introduced the measure as a response to the loss by Denver police of DNA evidence in the case of Clarence Moses-El. Denver police threw away the DNA evidence despite a 1995 court order requiring the agency to keep it.

The "no" votes were all cast by Republicans, including by bill co-sponsors Scott Renfroe, R-Eaton, David Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, Steve Ward, R-Littleton, and Tom Wiens, R-Castle Rock.

The bill requires a court to grant an convicted felon a new trial "in a case in which material evidence containing DNA or some other kind of evidence that is subject to a preservation order or an order for release and testing is destroyed, lost, or otherwise disposed of before the evidence may be used for the purpose for which it is being preserved."

Current Colorado law does not require that evidence in a criminal case be preserved for any specific period of time. Another bill under consideration at the General Assembly would require law enforcement authorities to keep DNA evidence for various periods of time, depending on the nature of the crime and the specific DNA evidence at issue.

Timothy Masters, a Fort Collins man convicted in 1998 of a 1987 murder, was recently released from prison, and his conviction was reversed, after DNA evidence preserved in his case proved that he could not have committed the murder.

SB 205 now heads to the House.

DNA Bill Gets Initial Senate Approval

Although several members listed as co-sponsors decided not to vote for their bill, a measure that would grant convicted felons a new trial when law enforcement authorities lose or fail to keep DNA evidence passed the Senate on its first test this morning.

SB 205, which is sponsored by 26 senators, was approved on a voice vote.

However, some of those who had signed on to sponsor it ended up opposing it.

Sen. Tom Wiens, R-Castle Rock, was among them. He said that he believes there are "plenty of other opportunities" to remedy loss of evidence. Sen. Josh Penry, R-Fruita, argued that the bill will benefit only one man.

Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, has said he was inspired to draft and introduce the bill because of the situation surrounding Clarence Moses-El, who was convicted of a 1987 rape on the basis of a the victim's testimony that she had seen his face in a dream. The Denver Police Department discarded the DNA evidence gathered during the investigation of the crime in 1995 despite a court order requiring its preservation. Moses-El has always maintained his innocence.

Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, disagreed with GOP colleagues Wiens and Penry. "As awful as it may be for a victim or a victim’s family to contemplate a retrial, our first responsibility here ought to be for justice," Mitchell said.

The bill faces a final vote in the Senate before moving on to the House.