Bill v. Brewer, No. 13-15844 (9th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs, police officers, filed suit under 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging that two other officers violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments when, pursuant to a state court order, they obtained DNA samples from plaintiffs to exclude them as contributors of DNA at a crime scene. The court concluded that the superior court orders authorizing the collection of plaintiffs’ DNA satisfied the Warrant Clause of the Fourth Amendment. The court also concluded that no undue intrusion occurred in this case where the Supreme Court has expressly held that buccal swabs are “brief and . . . minimal” physical intrusions “‘involv[ing] virtually no risk, trauma, or pain.’” Further, the reasonableness of a particular search “must be considered in the context of the person’s legitimate expectations of privacy.” In this case, it was reasonable to ask sworn officers to provide saliva samples for the sole purpose of demonstrating that DNA left at a crime scene was not the result of inadvertent contamination by on-duty public safety personnel. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's dismissal of the suit.
Court Description: Civil Rights. The panel affirmed the district court’s dismissal of an action brought by three Phoenix police officers who alleged that two other officers violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments when, pursuant to a state court order, they obtained DNA samples from the plaintiffs to exclude them as contributors of DNA at a crime scene. The panel held that the superior court orders authorizing the collection of plaintiffs’ DNA satisfied the Warrant Clause of the Fourth Amendment. The panel further held that it was not unreasonable, under the circumstances, to ask sworn officers to provide saliva samples for the sole purpose of demonstrating that the DNA left at a crime scene was not the result of inadvertent contamination by on-duty public safety personnel.
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