What was called a “stunt” by Democratic candidate for Attorney General Steve Shannon has turned into legislation drafted by Rpublican candidate for Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
Cuccinelli announced today that he has filed legislation – the first to do so – for consideration for the special session, as called by the governor, that will be held Aug. 19 in Richmond.
“I was pleased to submit my legislation yesterday to the Clerk for consideration at the Special Session in a few weeks” said Senator Ken Cuccinelli. “This legislation will convert Virginia’s laws to include a notice and waiver statute for certificates of analysis, allowing lab technicians to be notified in advance if they are required to appear in court. It addresses all different types of cases that were affected by the Melendez ruling: DUI cases, sex offender registry cases, drug cases, and others.”
“The Supreme Court ruled similar statutes to that which I have proposed to be constitutional in Ohio, Texas and Georgia, and I’m looking to model Virgina code after these states on this particular issue. It should effectively address the problems our prosecutors have faced as a result of Melendez, although I do believe we will need to hire more lab technicians in order to catch us up on the backlog of cases that have resulted,” concluded Cuccinelli.
