When a piece of evidence in the possession of the prosecution is destroyed because the prosecution finds it necessary to consume the evidence in order to test it, does the destruction violate due process?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. SWEIGART, A118840, No. 193281 (Cal. App. 2010):

"When a piece of evidence in the possession of the prosecution is destroyed because the prosecution finds it necessary to consume the evidence in order to test it, there is no due process violation. The prosecution must be allowed to investigate and prosecute crime, and due process does not require that it forego investigation in order to avoid destroying potentially exculpatory evidence." (People v. Griffin (1988) 46 Cal.3d 1011, 1021.) A good faith loss of evidence that is a necessary consequence of the scientific

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method used to test the evidence does not violate due process. (Ibid.) This principle applies to DNA testing. (People v. Houston (2005) 130 Cal.App.4th 279, 302-304.)

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