COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Just a couple of weeks ago, 71 oxycodone pills went missing from a jury deliberation room as they were being examined along with other pieces of evidence. As it turns out, this isn’t the first time evidence has been handled improperly.

The oxycodone pills are still missing and not only has this led to an investigation, Prosecutor Ron O’Brien says this could change how jurors see evidence in future cases.

“By law the deliberations of jurors are secret,” said Prosecutor O’Brien.

That means no one other than the jurors are inside that room; No cameras, no security, just a bailiff outside the room.

“The jurors are always in private, the exhibits are marked, and the jury is under the supervision by the bailiff,” said O’Brien. “If they need anything, there’s a procedure where they turn on lights and reflect outside the jury room.”

After a jury examines evidence, who collects it?

“Usually it’s kept in a box or a bag it goes to the prosecutor to the bailiff; bailiff to the foreman or forelady who then is in custody of the exhibits in the jury room,” O’Brien said.

There was a case several years ago involving a spilled bag of cocaine on a table, but O’Brien says the evidence needed to be cleaned up. It did not go missing like the 71 oxycodone pills.

O’Brien says they are considering using photographs and clear lock boxes.

“Whether or not we’re going to omit certain bits or items of evidence to go back to the jury room, and I know Judge McIntosh is also reviewing the court’s practices and procedures to see if we can perhaps change or do things better,” said O’Brien.

Both the court and prosecutors office are reviewing the procedures to see if evidence should be handled differently That could be decided as soon as the next several weeks.