A bipartisan group of Wisconsin legislators is trying to move a bill mandating the state destroy defendants' DNA samples if they're found innocent.
Current Wisconsin law requires police to take DNA from anyone arrested for a violent felony and send the samples to the state Justice Department's crime lab.
Convicted felons, sex offenders and anyone convicted of a misdemeanor also must surrender their DNA.
If a defendant is found not guilty or delinquent he or she can ask the DOJ to destroy their DNA samples and purge all records of the samples.
Under the bill, the DOJ would be required to destroy the samples and all records of them if a defendant is found not guilty or delinquent.
The defendant would no longer have to make the request.