Does 2010 Law Require Police, Crime Labs to Preserve Biological Evidence from Pre-2010 Court Cases?

Or Does New Law Apply Only to Evidence Collected After It Was Enacted?

State of Ohio v. Clarence D. Roberts , Case no. 2011-1882

Fifth District Court of Appeals (Guernsey County)

ISSUE: Section 2933.82 of the Ohio Revised Code, which was enacted by the General Assembly in 2010 and became effective on July 6 of that year, requires that Ohio law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, courts and crime laboratories that obtain biological evidence while investigating specified crimes including murder and rape must preserve that evidence for a specified period of time beyond the trial of a defendant charged with those crimes. The statute also requires that, on request, governmental entities that possess biological evidence from a criminal case must provide the defendant with an inventory of all such evidence in their possession.