From roanoke.com:

A Virginia Senate subcommittee agreed Wednesday on draft legislation that could help the state’s court system deal with the effects of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision involving the use of forensic evidence in criminal trials.

The June Supreme Court decision — Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts — is forcing Virginia to take steps to help ensure that forensic analysts can be available to testify in cases involving scientific evidence. The General Assembly will convene a special session Aug. 19 to at least make partial fixes to the problem.

Draft legislation that was fine-tuned by a Senate Courts of Justice subcommittee Wednesday would require prosecutors to provide notice of their intent to introduce scientific evidence 28 days before a case goes to trial. A defendant would have 14 days to decide whether to require the scientist to testify.

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