MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2000 Regular Session

To: Judiciary; Appropriations

By: Senator(s) Ross

AN ACT TO CREATE THE MISSISSIPPI CRIME LABORATORY AND MEDICAL EXAMINER BOARD; TO SPECIFY THE MEMBERSHIP; TO AUTHORIZE THE BOARD TO ADOPT RULES AND REGULATIONS; TO CREATE AN ADVISORY COUNCIL; TO PROVIDE FOR PAYMENT OF PER DIEM; TO SPECIFY THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE STATE MEDICAL EXAMINER; TO SPECIFY THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE CRIME LAB; TO REPEAL SECTIONS 45-1-17, 45-1-25, 45-1-27, 45-1-29 AND 45-1-31, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CRIME DETECTION AND MEDICAL EXAMINER LABORATORY, THE APPOINTMENT, RESPONSIBILITIES AND QUALIFICATIONS OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE CRIME LABORATORY, AND THE FUNDING AND EQUIPMENT FOR THE CRIME LABORATORY; TO REPEAL SECTION 41-61-77, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES FOR A CENTRAL MEDICAL EXAMINER OFFICE AND USE OF PRIVATE FACILITIES FOR INVESTIGATING DEATHS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. (1) There shall be a Mississippi Crime Laboratory and Medical Examiner Board, the membership of which is to be composed of the Attorney General, who shall serve as the chairman of the board, the Chairman of the Pathology Department of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the State Chemist, the Commissioner of Public Safety and six (6) other members of the board to be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, as hereinafter provided. The board shall select annually a vice chairman from its membership.

(2) The Governor shall appoint six (6) other members, with the advice and consent of the Senate, as follows:

One (1) sheriff;

One (1) municipal police chief;

Two (2) members-at-large who are adult resident citizens of the state;

One (1) member of The Mississippi Bar who primarily practices criminal defense law; and

One (1) district attorney;

All members shall take and subscribe to the general oath of office as provided in Section 268, Mississippi Constitution of 1890.

(3) For the initial purposes of appointment, the sheriff and criminal defense lawyer members shall be appointed for a three-year term; the municipal police chief and one (1) of the two (2) members-at-large shall be appointed for a two-year term; and the remaining member-at-large and the district attorney member shall be appointed for a four-year term; all terms shall thereafter be for four (4) years, except for appointments to fill vacancies which shall be for the unexpired term only. Members shall be eligible for reappointment to the same or a different category.

(4) On or before December 31, 2000, the board shall appoint the State Medical Examiner and the Director of the Crime Lab.

(5) The crime detection and medical examiner laboratory established under this act shall be operated in cooperation with the University Medical Center and other hospitals and laboratories, and the Mississippi Crime Laboratory and the Office of the State Medical Examiner shall comprise two (2) separate divisions of the agency that shall operate in conjunction, sharing facilities and equipment to the extent that the board may direct.

(6) There is created an advisory council to advise the Mississippi Crime Laboratory and Medical Examiner Board on matters concerning the board. The council shall be composed of the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Chairman of the House Judiciary En Banc Committee, and one (1) appointee of the Lieutenant Governor and one (1) appointee of the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The members of the advisory council shall serve in an advisory capacity only. For attending meetings of the council, such legislators shall receive per diem and expenses which shall be paid from the contingent expense funds of their respective houses in the same amounts provided for committee meetings when the Legislature is not in session; however, no per diem or expenses for attending meetings of the council shall be paid while the Legislature is in session. No per diem and expenses shall be paid except for attending meetings of the council without prior approval of the proper committee in their respective houses.

SECTION 2. (1) The Mississippi Crime Laboratory and Medical Examiner Board shall secure office space at the seat of the government as it deems necessary and requisite for the fulfillment of its duties and responsibilities.

(2) All funds, property and other assets of the Mississippi Crime Laboratory shall be transferred to the Mississippi Crime Laboratory and Medical Examiner Board on July 1, 2000. All current positions of the Mississippi Crime Laboratory shall be transferred to the reorganized Mississippi Crime Laboratory on July 1, 2000. Such transfer shall be based on consultation with the Legislative Budget Office staff and on estimated fiscal year 2000 budget expenditures as contained in the fiscal year 2001 budget request of the Crime Lab. Before establishment and allotment of such resources for fiscal year 2001, copies of the proposed division of resources shall be provided for review to the advisory council for the Mississippi Crime Laboratory and Medical Examiner Board, the Legislative Budget Office and the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance, Evaluation and Review. It is the intent of the Legislature that funds shall be transferred to the Mississippi Crime Laboratory and Medical Examiner Board sufficient to carry out the purposes of Senate Bill No. 3003, 2000 Regular Session.

SECTION 3. The board shall adopt rules and regulations as it deems proper to carry out its statutory powers and duties. The rules and regulations shall also prescribe the dates and hours of meetings to be held every other month and provide that special meetings shall be called by the chairman at the request of the Medical Examiner or the Director of the Crime Lab, on three (3) days' written notice or by a majority vote of the entire board on three (3) days' written notice.

SECTION 4. The members of the Mississippi Crime Laboratory and Medical Examiner Board who are not full-time public officers or public employees shall be entitled to a per diem as is provided by Section 25-3-69, not to exceed twenty (20) days in any fiscal year. All members shall be entitled to mileage and actual and necessary expenses in attending such regular or special meetings, as provided by Section 25-3-41.

SECTION 5. The State Medical Examiner is authorized and empowered to employ the necessary professional, technical and clerical personnel as he deems necessary to carry out the powers and duties of his office, and to fix their compensation. The State Medical Examiner shall serve at the will and pleasure of the board.

(1) The Mississippi Crime Laboratory and Medical Examiner Board shall establish and maintain a central office for the State Medical Examiner with appropriate facilities and personnel for postmortem medicolegal examinations. District offices, with appropriate facilities and personnel, may also be established and maintained if considered necessary by the board for the proper management of postmortem examinations.

The facilities of the central and district offices and their staff services may be available to the medical examiners and designated pathologists in their investigations.

(2) In order to provide proper facilities for investigating deaths as authorized in Sections 41-61-51 through 41-61-79, the State Medical Examiner may arrange for the use of existing public or private laboratory facilities. The State Medical Examiner may contract with qualified persons to perform or to provide support services for autopsies, studies and investigations not inconsistent with other applicable laws. Such laboratory facilities may be located at the University of Mississippi Medical Center or any other suitable location. The State Medical Examiner may also serve as a member of the faculty at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and other institutions of higher learning. He shall be authorized to employ such additional scientific, technical, administrative and clerical assistants as are necessary for performance of his duties. Such employees in the office of the State Medical Examiner shall be subject to the rules, regulations and policies of the state personnel system in their employment.

(3) The State Medical Examiner shall be authorized to appoint or employ qualified pathologists as additional associate and assistant state medical examiners as are necessary to carry out the duties of his office. The associate and assistant state medical examiners shall be licensed to practice medicine in Mississippi and, insofar as practicable, shall be trained in the field of forensic pathology. The State Medical Examiner may delegate specific duties to competent and qualified medical examiners within the scope of the express authority granted to him by law or regulation. Employees of the office of the State Medical Examiner shall have the authority to enter any political subdivisions of this state for the purpose of carrying out medical investigations.

(4) The board of supervisors of any two (2) or more adjacent counties may enter into written agreements with one another, in accordance with Section 17-13-1 et seq., to establish regional medical examiner districts for the purposes of providing and coordinating medical examiner services on a regional basis, establishing central forensic facilities for the counties involved, and employing or contracting with one or more pathologists to serve as medical examiners of the district, who will perform postmortem examinations and autopsies for the counties involved. Any powers which may be exercised under this chapter by an individual county, county medical examiner or county medical examiner investigator may be exercised jointly with any other county or with the county medical examiner or county medical examiner investigator of such other county, in accordance with the terms of the agreement between the counties involved. Any county entering into such an agreement shall be authorized to expend any funds necessary to carry out the purposes of such agreement. Any municipality located within any such district is hereby authorized and empowered to contribute funds to such district. For any such district established, the counties involved shall attempt to coordinate the operation of the district and any district facilities with the operation of any district office or offices established by the State Medical Examiner under subsection (1) of this section which include such counties. The medical examiners authorized in this subsection shall have the same authority within a medical examiner district and the counties served by such district as does the State Medical Examiner.

SECTION 6. (1) The Director of the Crime Lab is authorized and empowered to employ the necessary professional, technical and clerical personnel as he deems necessary to carry out the powers and duties of the board, and to fix their compensation. The State director shall serve at the will and pleasure of the board.

(2) The director of the Mississippi Crime Laboratory shall be a person who is experienced in crime laboratory operations, knowledgeable of the criminal justice system, and who shall have the following minimum qualifications:

(a) Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with major course work in forensic science, chemistry, biology, commercial science or physics.

(b) At least five (5) years' full-time employment in a crime laboratory, with supervisory or administrative responsibility.

(c) Thorough knowledge of the utilization of crime laboratory services and their relation to the investigating law enforcement officers.

(d) Thorough knowledge of techniques employed in processing of physical evidence.

(e) Membership in professional organizations promoting advancement of forensic science.

(f) Proven effectiveness as a manager and administrator.

Unusual strength in one or more of the above qualifications may compensate for failure to exactly satisfy paragraph (b) of this section.

(3) The director shall have responsibilities and duties including but not limited to the following:

(a) To plan and give general direction to activities or programs for which he is responsible, through the issuance of directives and orders.

(b) To review proposed changes in policies affecting the operation of the division under his direction.

(c) To maintain liaison with other agencies, divisions or departments of state and federal government.

(d) To approve and maintain uniform procedures and standards of operation for the laboratory.

(e) To supervise and approve procedures and processing of physical evidence.

(f) To present testimony in court in analysis of physical evidence.

(g) To supervise the state medical examiner.

(h) To attend scientific conferences and hold classes for law enforcement officers.

(i) To present budget requests to the legislative budget office and to legislative committees.

(4) The budget for the Mississippi Crime Laboratory shall be maintained and administered by crime laboratory personnel under the supervision of the director.

(5) Grants and donations to the crime laboratory may be accepted from individuals, the federal government, firms, corporations, foundations and other interested organizations and societies.

(6) The Mississippi Crime Laboratory shall establish and collect for services rendered proper fees commensurate with the services rendered. Such fees shall be deposited into a special fund in the State Treasury to the credit of the crime laboratory and expended in accordance with applicable rules and regulations of the department of finance and administration. Such fees may be used for any authorized expenditure of the crime laboratory except expenditures for salaries, wages and fringe benefits.

(7) (a) The crime laboratory shall be empowered to purchase, equip and maintain vehicles, as authorized by law, and other conveyances for necessary business such as travel to court, crime scene assistance and consultation. The vehicles shall be independent of the vehicles purchased and operated by the department of public safety.

(b) Obsolete nonrepairable or salvageable equipment shall be sold, as provided by law, and the funds so derived shall go into the account of the crime laboratory and be used to replace such equipment.

SECTION 7. Sections 45-1-17, 45-1-25, 45-1-27, 45-1-29 and 45-1-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provide the establishment of the crime detection and medical examiner laboratory, the appointment, responsibilities and qualifications of the director of the crime laboratory, and the funding and equipment for the crime laboratory, are repealed.

SECTION 8. Section 41-61-77, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provides for a central office and use of private facilities for investigating deaths, is repealed.

SECTION 9. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2000.