Wyoming

• HB 29 (2024, enacted – Statewide cold case database. Appropriates a one-time $150,000 to the Attorney General’s Office for the Division of Criminal Investigation to build and maintain a statewide cold case database, with funds also available to support case investigation. Requires every law enforcement agency in the state to report unsolved homicides and felony sexual offenses to DCI, reaching back to cases occurring after January 1, 1972; “cold case” is defined statutorily as a homicide or felony sexual offense unsolved for two or more years after being reported. The DNA relevance is indirect but material: it creates the first centralized statewide inventory of the cases eligible for DNA re-testing and genealogy work.
• HB 58 (2024, enacted) – Forensic genetic genealogy pilot program.Appropriates a further $150,000 from the General Fund to the AG’s Office for DCI to establish and administer a forensic genetic genealogy pilot program from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2029, funding FGG DNA analyses and searches to generate investigative leads and identify human remains. DCI may run analyses itself or award grants to local law enforcement agencies; the program was advanced in significant part to address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons crisis in Wyoming.

Arrestees: No.

Convicted Offenders: Yes.

Qualifying Crimes: Any felony conviction.

Time of Collection: For persons in custody on or after July 1, 1997: before release from custody. For persons not sentenced to imprisonment: immediately after sentencing.

Expungement: By written request, with a certified copy of the court order reversing and dismissing the conviction, or providing for expungement (Wyo. Stat. § 7-19-405).

Statutes / Case Law

• WY Stat. § 7–19–401. Definitions.
• § 7–19–403. DNA Samples Required; Collection; Testing; Reimbursement of Costs
• § 7–19–405. Expungement of Information
• Doles v. State, 994 P. 2d 315 (Wyo. 1999) (“Although collecting DNA samples is a search and seizure, we are persuaded that the Act’s mandated DNA collection from convicted felons is reasonable and does not violate the Fourth Amendment”).

Legislative History

• HB 57 (1997) → Chapter 139, 1997 Session Laws, approved February 26, 1997, effective July 1, 1997. Created §§ 7-19-401 through 7-19-406, “DNA Identification Record System,” directing the Division of Criminal Investigation within the Attorney General’s office to establish a state DNA database covering convicted felons, crime scene specimens, and close biological relatives of missing persons. Section 7-19-403 required a DNA sample from every person convicted of a felony on or after July 1, 1997 and every person in custody on or after that date as a result of a felony conviction — samples from those in custody due before release, and from those not sentenced to imprisonment as a condition of sentence immediately after sentencing. The act required CODIS and FBI compatibility, restricted access and use, made unauthorized disclosure or tampering a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months and a $750 fine, provided expungement where the underlying conviction is reversed and dismissed, and authorized reasonable force plus district court contempt proceedings against a person who refuses to submit.
• HB 26 (2018) → Chapter 77, 2018 Session Laws (HEA No. 44), signed by the Governor March 12, 2018, effective immediately on enactment. Created §§ 7-12-401 through 7-12-407, the “Post-Conviction Determination of Factual Innocence Act,” allowing a person convicted of a felony to petition for exoneration based on newly discovered evidence. Does not amend the DNA article, but incorporates it: where the petition is based on evidence subject to DNA testing, the petitioner must seek that testing pursuant to §§ 7-19-401 through 7-19-406. The act defines “factual innocence,” “forensic science” and “newly discovered evidence,” specifies pleading requirements and the standard for a bona fide issue of factual innocence, provides for appointment of counsel, and conforms the existing post-conviction relief statutes.
• SF 72 (2019) → Chapter 76, 2019 Session Laws (SEA No. 47), signed by the Governor February 26, 2019, effective July 1, 2019 (§§ 3 and 4 effective on enactment). Created § 7-19-407, “Sexual assault biological evidence reports” — beginning January 1, 2020 each criminal justice agency must report to the Division every investigation in which sexual assault biological evidence is gathered, including crime type, whether the evidence was submitted for laboratory analysis, the lab’s name, whether analysis is complete, and reasons for any nonsubmission, with all personally identifying information excluded. The Division must compile an annual statistical report published in “Uniform Crime Reporting, Crime in Wyoming” and available to the public on request. The act also created § 7-19-401(a)(xii) defining “sexual assault biological evidence” as DNA samples and evidence gathered during an examination under § 6-2-309, renumbered the “this act” definition to (xiii) and extended it through § 7-19-407, amended § 6-2-309(g) to make the Victim Services Division primarily responsible for sexual assault examination costs contingent on funding, and created § 6-2-309(n) barring destruction of that evidence until all applicable limitations periods expire or a court orders destruction.

• No program or law identified.

• HB 29 (2024, enacted – Statewide cold case database. Appropriates a one-time $150,000 to the Attorney General’s Office for the Division of Criminal Investigation to build and maintain a statewide cold case database, with funds also available to support case investigation. Requires every law enforcement agency in the state to report unsolved homicides and felony sexual offenses to DCI, reaching back to cases occurring after January 1, 1972; “cold case” is defined statutorily as a homicide or felony sexual offense unsolved for two or more years after being reported. The DNA relevance is indirect but material: it creates the first centralized statewide inventory of the cases eligible for DNA re-testing and genealogy work.
• HB 58 (2024, enacted) – Forensic genetic genealogy pilot program.Appropriates a further $150,000 from the General Fund to the AG’s Office for DCI to establish and administer a forensic genetic genealogy pilot program from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2029, funding FGG DNA analyses and searches to generate investigative leads and identify human remains. DCI may run analyses itself or award grants to local law enforcement agencies; the program was advanced in significant part to address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons crisis in Wyoming.

• No program or law identified.

• No program or law identified.