1. Betty Layne DesPortes BENJAMIN & DesPORTES, PC Richmond, VA

2.  Truth  Justice

3.  Belongs to everyone  No one should be allowed to own it, hide it, or destroy it  The search for the truth should be a collective effort

4.  Find the evidence  Get the evidence tested  By a reliable method  To get results  To determine the truth  Collective interest

5.  Prosecution  Crime lab  Victims  Public  Defense

6. All justice is collective “All liberty is individual” – Calvin Coolidge

7.  Notice ◦ Existence of evidence ◦ Testing  Access ◦ Opportunity to be heard ◦ Opportunity to participate  Resources ◦ Independent testing ◦ Experts

8.  Need rules, guidelines, and protocols for how the case is going to be handled  Use established protocols  If cannot use regular case protocols, draft new protocols and allow comment  If people know “the plan” they will know what you are doing

9.  Selection  Technology  Reporting  Investigation  Costs  Time

10.  Which cases ◦ All ◦ Defense request ◦ Prosecution request ◦ Court order  Screening method ◦ Court ◦ Committee ◦ Lab personnel

11.  If you say “all”... but you don’t mean “all”... +Changing criteria: “qualifying convictions” + Inaccurate information = Need to notify defendants and many additional issues

12.  Default  Objections ◦ New technologies ◦ Preservation of sample ◦ Independent testing  Final decision

13.  Outside contractor  Different casework protocols  Splitting analysis and reporting duties  Concerns about consumption

14. Who gets the results and when? Prosecution Defense Defendant Victim Court Public

15.  No initial plan for issuing reports  Results to Governor  New plans for reports  New plans for distributing reports  If do not know, cannot ask...

16.  Who determined the meaning of the results and does any further investigation? ◦ Prosecution ◦ What if the prosecution declines ◦ What if the defense wants access to databases

17.  Not there yet  Opportunity to design a plan...

18.  Who pays  Who determines who pays  Does paying mean you are The Decider  If the taxpayer is paying, are they entitled to an accounting

19.  State and federal money ◦ $1.4 million state = 300+ cases (screening and testing only?) ◦ $4.5 million federal = 700+ cases (testing and reporting?)  Initial estimates too low  Beneficial to have detailed accounting for future projects / testing estimates

20.  Start date  Completion date  Causes for delay

21.  Announced Dec. 2005  1-2 year initial estimate to complete  “rolling” process – rapid reporting  November, 2008  34 cases have issued (but not distributed) reports

22. Truth and justice are collective interests Collective interests are best served by collective efforts