Texas Administrative Code › Title 37 - PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONS › Part 15 - TEXAS FORENSIC SCIENCE COMMISSION › Chapter 651 - DNA, CODIS, FORENSIC ANALYSIS, AND CRIME LABORATORIES › Subchapter D - PROCEDURE FOR PROCESSING COMPLAINTS AND LABORATORY SELF-DISCLOSURES › Section 651.302 - Definitions

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this
					 subchapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly
					 indicates otherwise.
(1) Accredited
				  field of forensic science--means a specific forensic method or methodology
				  validated or approved by the Commission under Article
				  38.01,
				  Code of Criminal Procedure §4-d as part of the accreditation process for
				  crime laboratories.
(2) Crime
				  laboratory--has the meaning assigned by Article
				  38.35,
				  Code of Criminal Procedure.
(3)
				  Forensic analysis--has the meaning assigned by Article
				  38.01,
				  Code of Criminal Procedure.
(4)
				  Forensic pathology--includes that portion of an autopsy conducted by a medical
				  examiner or other forensic pathologist who is a licensed physician.
(5) Accredited laboratory--includes a public
				  or private laboratory or other entity that conducts forensic analysis as
				  defined in Article
				  38.35,
				  Code of Criminal Procedure and is accredited by a national accrediting body
				  recognized by the Commission and listed in §
										651.4
				  of this title (relating to List of Recognized Accrediting Bodies).
(6) Physical evidence--has the meaning
				  assigned by Article
				  38.35,
				  Code of Criminal Procedure.
(7)
				  Professional misconduct--means the forensic analyst or crime laboratory,
				  through a material act or omission, deliberately failed to follow a standard of
				  practice that an ordinary forensic analyst or crime laboratory would have
				  followed, and the deliberate act or omission would substantially affect the
				  integrity of the results of a forensic analysis. An act or omission was
				  deliberate if the forensic analyst or crime laboratory was aware of and
				  consciously disregarded an accepted standard of practice.
(8) Professional negligence--means the
				  forensic analyst or crime laboratory, through a material act or omission,
				  negligently failed to follow the standard of practice that an ordinary forensic
				  analyst or crime laboratory would have followed, and the negligent act or
				  omission would substantially affect the integrity of the results of a forensic
				  analysis. An act or omission was negligent if the forensic analyst or crime
				  laboratory should have been but was not aware of an accepted standard of
				  practice.
(9) For purposes of these
				  definitions, the term "standard of practice" includes any of the activities
				  engaged in by a "forensic analyst" as those activities are defined in Article
				  38.01,
				  Code of Criminal Procedure. "Forensic analyst" means a person who on behalf of
				  a crime laboratory accredited under Article
				  38.01,
				  Code of Criminal Procedure technically reviews or performs a forensic analysis
				  or draws conclusions from or interprets a forensic analysis for a court or
				  crime laboratory.
(10) The term
				  "would substantially affect the integrity of the results of a forensic
				  analysis" does not necessarily require that a criminal case be impacted or a
				  report be issued to a customer in error. The term includes acts or omissions
				  that would call into question the integrity of the forensic analysis, the
				  forensic analyst or analysts, or the crime laboratory as a whole regardless of
				  the ultimate outcome in the underlying criminal case.
(11) Final investigative report--means a
				  required, written report issued by the Commission pursuant to Article
				  38.01,
				  Code of Criminal Procedure §4(b).