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GA: Exclusionary rule inapplicable to DNA taken weeks after defendant's release from prison

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The exclusionary rule does not apply to prevent the use of DNA from a convict that was not taken until weeks after his release from prison that was used to match to another crime. Leftwich v. State, 2009 Ga. App. LEXIS 781 (July 7, 2009): Moreover, the DNA sample was taken from Leftwich on February 18, 2005, rather than January 2, 2005, (the final date Leftwich argues that he was legally held in prison) simply because he was physically discharged from custody on February 18. 10 Thus, even assuming that Leftwich's detention at the time was illegal, the exclusionary rule does not apply to this case because the DNA extraction (and thereby, the CODIS match to E. C.'s attacker) was not a result of any illegal detention by the State. 11 Furthermore, the threat of exclusion of evidence in this case is not likely to deter future instances of the presumed illegal conduct in this case-holding an inmate beyond the end of his sentence term-because the Department of Corrections employees responsible for calculating prison terms have no stake in the outcome of future criminal prosecutions...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 10, 2009 (boomark / email).