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WY: Warrant check is not a seizure

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

A comment by the prosecutor about defendant's refusing to give a DNA sample would violate the Fourth Amendment. Smith v. State, 2009 WY 2, 2009 Wyo. LEXIS 2 n.1 (January 13, 2009) (recognizing rule, but finding it waived): The State candidly admits that eliciting testimony and commenting about a suspect's refusal to give a sample for DNA testing may violate a defendant's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. See, e.g., United States v. Dozal, 173 F.3d 787, 794 (10th Cir. 1999) (ruling that asking the jury to draw adverse inferences from a refusal to consent to a search may be impermissible under the Fourth Amendment); Deno v. Commonwealth of Kentucky, 177 S.W.3d 753, 762 (Ky. 2005) (stating that a defendant's pre-arrest refusal to provide a sample for DNA testing could not be used as evidence of his guilt under the Fourth Amendment)...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 18, 2009 (boomark / email).