Ohio

At a glance

Oversight body

None. No statute creates a forensic science commission or independent lab oversight board. The Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI), under the Attorney General, runs the state DNA lab and databases. Its superintendent sets procedures for DNA collection, analysis and database operation (R.C. 109.573(H)). An Attorney General advisory group helps develop recommendations only for the statewide sexual assault kit tracking system (R.C. 109.68(B)).

Lab accreditation

No general mandate. Two DNA rules apply. For postconviction DNA testing, a testing authority must follow the FBI Quality Assurance Standards, have a yearly internal or external audit, and have an external audit at least every two years (R.C. 2953.80(A), since 2006). Labs under contract with BCI must follow quality-assurance and privacy rules set by the BCI superintendent (109.573(B)(5)).

Analyst licensing

None. No Revised Code section licenses or certifies forensic analysts.

Admissibility standard

A Daubert-type reliability test in the rule text. Since July 1, 2024, Ohio Evid.R. 702 says “A witness may testify as an expert if the proponent demonstrates to the court that it is more likely than not that all of the following apply,” and division (C) adds that “the expert’s opinion reflects a reliable application of the principles and methods to the facts of the case” (Ohio Rules of Evidence). The Staff Note says “The amendment adopts 2023 changes to Fed. R. Evid. 702.” The rule keeps Ohio’s own test in 702(C)(1) to (3) for procedures, tests and experiments.

Post-conviction forensic relief

No changed-science statute was found. An application for DNA testing is filed in the sentencing court on an Attorney General form (R.C. 2953.73). It is open only to eligible offenders: people convicted of a felony by a judge or jury who are in prison, under a death sentence, on parole, probation, post-release control or community control, or registered as sex offenders. It is not available after a guilty or no-contest plea (2953.72(C)(2)). A felony offender whose DNA testing under 2953.71 to 2953.81 establishes actual innocence by clear and convincing evidence may file a petition for postconviction relief (2953.21(A)(1)(a)(iii)), free of the usual time and successive-petition limits (2953.23(A)(2)).

DNA database scope

Arrestees and convictions. Anyone 18 or older arrested for or charged with a felony must give a sample at intake (R.C. 2901.07(B)(1)). Anyone convicted of a felony, or of listed misdemeanors, must give one if it was not already collected (2901.07(D)). Juvenile adjudications are covered by R.C. 2152.74. BCI may also keep databases of unidentified persons and relatives of missing persons, and DNA records are not public records (109.573).

Facial recognition

None. No statute governs police use of facial recognition. HB 1010, the Ohio Freedom from Mass Surveillance Act, has only been introduced. SB 469, on automated license plate recognition, was introduced on September 14, 2026 and referred to committee on September 30, 2026.

Changes, 2023 to 2026

• Jul 1, 2024

  Rule 702 now matches the 2023 federal rule

  Ohio Evid.R. 702 (amended by the Supreme Court of Ohio)Effective July 1, 2024; the adoption date was not found

  The proponent must now show the court “that it is more likely than not” that each requirement is met. Division (C) adds that “the expert’s opinion reflects a reliable application of the principles and methods to the facts of the case.” Before the change, the rule read “A witness may testify as an expert if all of the following apply.” The Staff Note says the amendment “adopts 2023 changes to Fed. R. Evid. 702.”

  For practitioners: Challenge how a forensic method was applied in the case, not only whether the method is valid; the proponent carries the burden on each part.

  Ohio Rules of Evidence

• Oct 3, 2023

  Yearly sexual assault kit reports; victims may stop kit destruction

  HB 33 (135th General Assembly, fiscal 2024–25 budget)Signed July 4, 2023; these sections effective October 3, 2023

  New R.C. 2933.821 requires every governmental evidence-retention entity that receives, keeps or preserves kits to report to the Attorney General within 180 days and then every year. Reports cover tested and untested kits, dates received, submitted and tested, CODIS entry dates or why no profile was made, why kits went untested, kits held over 30 days, and kits destroyed and why. The Attorney General publishes a summary that names entities that did not report. New R.C. 109.68(D) gives a victim the right to ask for kit testing dates and results, whether a profile was obtained, and database match status; to get notice at least 60 days before destruction; and to ask that the kit be kept for up to 30 years. New 2933.82(B)(8)(b) lets that request override the 5-year destruction rule after a plea.

  For practitioners: Kit backlogs and destruction are now on the record each year; check the Attorney General summary for the agency in your case.

  R.C. 2933.821 R.C. 109.68 Bill status

• Apr 4, 2023

  Kit testing and retention duties extended to human trafficking cases

  SB 288 (134th General Assembly), amending R.C. 2933.82Signed January 3, 2023; effective April 4, 2023

  R.C. 2933.82 now covers sexual assault kits secured in trafficking-in-persons cases under R.C. 2905.32. Agencies must keep the kits for the statutory periods, 30 years if the case is unsolved. They had to review trafficking case records and send untested kits to BCI or another crime lab within one year of April 4, 2023, and must send kits within 30 days in new trafficking investigations. Defendants get the inventory rights in (B)(5), and the destruction limits after a guilty or no-contest plea in (B)(8) apply. The 2016 version of the section did not mention 2905.32.

  For practitioners: In a trafficking case, ask whether the kit was sent to a lab within the deadline and request the inventory.

  R.C. 2933.82 (April 4, 2023) Bill status

Pending bills

Checked and unchanged