Now that Mississippi is required to preserve biological or DNA evidence in felony cases, some local law enforcement officials are questioning where it will be stored and who will pay for it.
The bill, signed into law by Gov. Haley Barbour this month, doesn’t specify a central location for storage of DNA evidence. The law took effect March 16.
Some law enforcement officials say they have no place to store DNA evidence.
Holmes County Sheriff Willie March, first vice president of the Mississippi Sheriffs Association, said DNA preservation should be handled by the Mississippi Crime Lab.
“They do the testing now, and they have the database,” March said.
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Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press
, Jack Brook, Associated Press/Report for America
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April 17, 2026
The Supreme Court hands a win to oil and gas companies fighting environmental lawsuits in Louisiana
The unanimous procedural decision gives the companies a new day in federal court after a state jury ordered Chevron to pay upward of $740 million to clean up damage to the state’s coastline, one of multiple similar lawsuits.
