Our evidence officer is seeking input as to the best way to dispose of blood evidence in DWI cases after the case has been disposed of and the trial court has lost jurisdictionn. We have already consulted with our County Attorney's office about having an order for destruction at the time of plea, providing appeal is waived. We are seeking input as to how to dispose of the evidence in cases past. Our County Attorney's Office and our department are seeking information as to how you instruct your agencies to dispose of this blood evidence; any help is greatly appreciated.

sell it to thirsty vampires maybe? Or you could contact a local blood bank and see what they do. Blood has an expiration date so they have to toss out old blood every so often.

Be aware of this AG opinion from March:

AG Op. GA-0992 (pdf)

Also, a bill going through the Legislature may address this problem if passed; see the committee substitute to SB 1439 by West (if it passes out of committee; the applicable language will not be available online until then).

Thank you Shannon, that opinion is the basis for my question as it does not clarify what other means may be used to dispose of evidence. The law seems pretty clear to me as to the need to keep blood in felony cases, lets just hope we can get some help from the legislature for misdemeanor offenses.

Since I don't know any vampires . . .
In all seriousness, what is everyone doing to dispose of blood evidence on cases that already plead but the blood was not ordered destroyed at the time of plea?

FYI: We now sign a destruction order for the blood at the time of plea bargain.

A number of posts have already dealt with the legal aspects, so perhaps you're looking for the logistics of how to phsically get rid of the samples:


The blood is a biohazard and as such must be placed in appropriate biohazardous bag, and then placed in what is called a "burn-box". After that, a licensed biohazardous waste disposal company can pick up and dispose of that box.

My office uses Ventrex.....here is link to their site. I'm sure someone offers a similiar service in your area.

http://ventrex-es.com/

Regards,

Actually, no. There are no posts that deal with how to dispose of it AFTER the AG's opinion came out in March.

As usual, the government has an answer:

Details.

Looking to bring this back around again- any ideas on how to deal with blood tubes which were not ordered destroyed at time of plea? How are you getting them out of your evidence rooms?