Senate Bill sb0300c1

    Florida Senate - 2002                            CS for SB 300

    By the Committee on Criminal Justice; and Senators Miller and
    Lawson




    307-1901-02

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to limitation of actions;

  3         amending s. 775.15, F.S.; providing that

  4         certain time limitations for prosecuting a

  5         crime do not apply if the alleged perpetrator

  6         is identified, after the expiration of such

  7         applicable time period, by analysis of DNA

  8         collected during the investigation of a crime

  9         or otherwise made available to a law

10         enforcement agency; providing an effective

11         date.

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13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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15         Section 1.  Subsection (3) of section 775.15, Florida

16  Statutes, is amended to read:

17         775.15  Time limitations.--

18         (3)  If the period prescribed in subsection (2) has

19  expired, a prosecution may nevertheless be commenced for:

20         (a)  Any offense, a material element of which is either

21  fraud or a breach of fiduciary obligation, within 1 year after

22  discovery of the offense by an aggrieved party or by a person

23  who has a legal duty to represent an aggrieved party and who

24  is himself or herself not a party to the offense, but in no

25  case shall this provision extend the period of limitation

26  otherwise applicable by more than 3 years.

27         (b)  Any offense based upon misconduct in office by a

28  public officer or employee at any time when the defendant is

29  in public office or employment, within 2 years from the time

30  he or she leaves public office or employment, or during any

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    Florida Senate - 2002                            CS for SB 300
    307-1901-02




  1  time permitted by any other part of this section, whichever

  2  time is greater.

  3         (c)  Any offense for which the identity of the alleged

  4  perpetrator is confirmed after the expiration of such

  5  applicable time period, and the confirmation is through DNA

  6  (deoxyribonucleic acid) analysis from a specimen or specimens

  7  collected during the investigation of a crime or otherwise

  8  made available to a law enforcement agency, when such

  9  information was not known to or in the possession of the

10  agency prior to the expiration of the applicable time period.

11         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2002.

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13          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
14                         Senate Bill 300

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16  -     Clarifies that if the identity of the perpetrator is
          confirmed, through the use of DNA evidence, after the
17        normal Statute of Limitations has run, the prosecution
          may still be commenced.
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    -     Clarifies that the provision does not limit the DNA
19        evidence to only evidence that was gathered at the crime
          scene by law enforcement personnel; it includes
20        specimens otherwise made available to law enforcement.

21  -     This change allows for evidence that is not found at the
          actual scene of the crime to be used as the source of
22        identification and allow for the source of the DNA
          evidence to come to the attention of law enforcement
23        through other means, rather than the traditional
          "evidence gathering."
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