Colorado § 16-12-302 Legislative declaration

Colorado Statutes

§ 16-12-302 — Legislative declaration

Colorado § 16-12-302

Title 16Criminal

Art.Review of Judgments in Criminal Cases

This text of Colorado § 16-12-302 (Legislative declaration) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 16-12-302 (2026).

Text

(1)The general assembly finds and declares that:

(a)An effective criminal justice system requires that crime laboratory employees act with integrity and that crime laboratories have controls to prevent and detect knowing misconduct and violations of procedures and properly investigate and report misconduct when it occurs;

(b)Prosecutors, defendants, and victims deserve transparency and to be notified of misconduct by crime laboratory employees who handle evidence used in criminal cases;

(c)The criminal justice system must provide an opportunity to timely and fairly litigate cases in which there was misconduct by a crime laboratory employee that could affect, or did affect, the outcome of a case; and

(d)Defendants must be afforded the right to counsel, the right to full di

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(1) The general assembly finds and
declares that:

(a) An effective criminal justice system requires that crime laboratory
employees act with integrity and that crime laboratories have controls to prevent
and detect knowing misconduct and violations of procedures and properly
investigate and report misconduct when it occurs;

(b) Prosecutors, defendants, and victims deserve transparency and to be
notified of misconduct by crime laboratory employees who handle evidence used in
criminal cases;

(c) The criminal justice system must provide an opportunity to timely and
fairly litigate cases in which there was misconduct by a crime laboratory employee
that could affect, or did affect, the outcome of a case; and

(d) Defendants must be afforded the right to counsel, the right to full
disclosure of the misconduct, and the right to an evidentiary hearing in order to
adequately address the impact of misconduct by crime laboratory employees.

(2) The general assembly intends that this part 3 be interpreted to
accomplish the policies declared in this section.