Legal News

Getting DNA the sneaky way

By Jason Siegel

The New York Times discussed the legality of police using sneaky methods to get DNA from suspects.

In the world of, what is called "surreptitious sampling" police steal suspects' cups at a coffee shops or their spit in the street, in order to get a DNA sample and find out it they're tied to a crime.

The Times reports that the method is increasingly being used by police and successfully defended in court, with several court opinions citing the U.S. Supreme Court's California v. Greenwood decision. The decision found that found trash bags left on the curb by a suspected narcotics dealer in Laguna Beach, Calif. was unprotected by the Fourth Amendment.

Defense lawyers and civil rights advocates told The Times that surreptitious sampling violates suspects' right to privacy.

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on April 03, 2008 (boomark / email).