SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelley, along with Division of Forensic Services’ Deputy Director Col. Sean Cormier and Assistant Deputy Director Robin Woolery appeared before the Illinois Senate’s Public Health Committee Tuesday to discuss the DNA backlog.

Kelly noted during the meeting that the Illinois State Police Forensic laboratory system is one of the largest in the country, is the only system in the nation that serves both an entire state and a massive metropolis like Chicago, and provides forensic support for all police departments in Illinois.

When an Illinois Senate panel met last March to discuss the state’s backlog of untested forensic evidence, there were more than 70 DNA samples in murder cases more than a year old awaiting action from Illinois State Police forensic investigators.

That number is now down to 14, Woolery said Tuesday, but noted the number is still too high and standard wait times for DNA processing are still too long.

She told the committee that testing had been completed on all but two of the cases. Those two are currently in testing. Four of those cases were waiting for court action to do the testing.