Senate advances bill to align post-conviction DNA testing cutoff with statute’s enactment date

Senate File 101, described by sponsor Senator Landon, would amend Wyoming’s post-conviction DNA testing statute to align the statute’s cutoff date with the date the statute was enacted. Landon said the current statutory cutoff prevents some convicted people—those convicted after the earlier cutoff but before the statute’s passage—from seeking court‑ordered DNA testing even if they meet the statutory standard for testing.

Landon told the Senate the bill “is an access to justice bill,” and that the change cleans up a discrepancy that arose after the statute was enacted. He described the statute’s high bar for testing under the appeals and new-trial provisions and said paragraph d of the statute currently prohibits courts from ordering DNA testing for convictions after Jan. 1, 2000, when an individual strategically did not seek DNA testing earlier. The bill moves the cutoff date forward to the statute’s passage date (February 2008), addressing cases where a conviction occurred after the earlier date but before the statute existed.

Committee action: Senator Olson moved that the committee of the whole report Senate File 101 do pass. The committee adopted the motion and reported the bill favorably by voice vote.

Why it matters: Sponsor remarks and committee discussion framed this as a technical change that removes a date-based barrier to relief for convicted people who otherwise meet the statute’s strict standard for post-conviction testing. Landon noted an actual case from February 2006 motivated the fix.

What the bill does: Changes the effective cutoff date in the post-conviction DNA testing statute to coincide with the statute’s passage, allowing otherwise-qualified petitioners to seek testing who were previously excluded by the older cutoff.

Next steps: The bill was reported do pass from the committee of the whole and will proceed through the Senate’s floor process.