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AL: Ultraviolet photography of hands not a search

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The use of ultraviolet photography on defendant's hands that revealed a he had been sprayed with something during an alleged assault on a police officer was not a search. Williams v. State, 2008 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 69 (April 4, 2008). Defendant's request for an officer to retrieve a film cannister from his pocket after arrest impliedly included permission to open it. Also, the failure to object to his opening it supported consent [a proposition I've never agreed with]. King v. State, 2008 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 66 (April 4, 2008): At the suppression hearing Deputy Wood testified that he asked King for permission to retrieve the unidentified object from his pocket to determine what it was and that the appellant consented. During the suppression hearing, defense counsel argued that Deputy Wood had permission to retrieve the canister, but not to investigate what it was...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on April 07, 2008 (boomark / email).