Crabbs v. Scott, No. 14-4068 (6th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseOhio law required criminal defendants to submit a DNA sample after a felony conviction, Ohio Rev. Code 2901.07(B); new law, applicable July 1, 2011, requires county sheriffs to collect DNA after a felony arrest. Crabbs was initially arrested before July 1, 2011, but rearrested after that date. Crabbs sued the Franklin County Sheriff under the Fourth Amendment for requiring him to submit to a DNA cheek swab after a jury acquitted him of voluntary manslaughter. The sheriff responded that Ohio’s sovereign immunity insulated him from the lawsuit because state law required him to take the sample. The district court and the Sixth Circuit rejected that argument, finding that the statute does not require a DNA sample for a felony defendant rearrested after the effective date for violating bond and does not require a sample after an acquittal if the sheriff was unable to collect one during the intake process. Sovereign immunity does not bar Crabbs’ civil rights action.
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