Justice Manual § 9-14.001

1) This procedure applies:

a) to criminal cases prosecuted by the Department in which evidence was seized and retained by a Department agency and two years have elapsed since the date of the appellate ruling that denied relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2255 for the last charged defendant in the case, or two years have elapsed since the expiration of the limitation period provided in 28 U.S.C. § 2255(f) (1) for all charged defendants in the case; and

b) to evidence seized and retained by Department agencies for criminal investigations in which no indictment was returned and any applicable limitations period has expired for all federal criminal offenses relevant to that investigation.

2) This procedure does not apply to:

a) evidence seized in a case in which the punishment imposed was death;

b) classified evidence;

c) biological evidence;

d) derivative electronic evidence;

e) real property;

f) seized evidence otherwise subject to legal forfeiture proceedings;

g) evidence seized, obtained, or retained pursuant to a mutual legal assistance request from a foreign country in a criminal matter;

h) the destruction of controlled substances as set forth in 28 CFR § 50.21 and § 9-100.100 of the Justice Manual; or

i) any other seized evidence not included in provisions 2 (a)-(h) if the Department agency with custody of the evidence and the USAO or other Department division with prosecutorial jurisdiction of the case in which the evidence was seized agree to immediately commence the seized evidence disposal process. If more than one USAO or Department division with prosecutorial jurisdiction investigated, prosecuted, or otherwise assisted with the case, all such offices or divisions must agree to the immediate commencement of the seized evidence disposal process.

j) Any seized evidence related to a civil rights era cold case as defined by Congress in the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007, the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Reauthorization Act of 2016, and the Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2018.