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DC: Penile DNA swab 7 hours later was still exigent

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Seven hour delay between alleged offense and officer obtaining a penile DNA swab did not show dissipation of the exigency. Time was still of the essence because of the evanescent nature of the evidence and its ability to disappear. Kaliku v. United States, 2010 D.C. App. LEXIS 261 (D.C. May 13, 2010): We are convinced that the trial court properly denied the motion to suppress the penile swab evidence by applying the exigent circumstances doctrine to this case. In response to cross-examination questions, Officer Strong, who gave instructions to Mr. Kaliku and Mr. Matthews about how to obtain the penile swab samples, testified that he did not seek a court order or transport the appellants to a hospital where the sample could have been taken because "[e]vidence could have been wiped away ...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on May 15, 2010 (boomark / email).