The state of Illinois has a pile of D-N-A samples waiting to be tested by the Illinois State Police and other law enforcement agencies. Some of those samples are connected with murders that happened more than a year ago. A recent report shows that there are hundreds of samples still waiting to be tested. Colonel Sean Cormier with the Illinois State Police Forensic Science Command says some of the backlog is due to a lack of funding and staff.

At a Senate committee hearing lawmakers wanted to know more as to how the cases are prioritized.