Maryland v. King (12-207)
argument 12-207Maryland v. King
Supreme Court of the United States
1h 0m
6 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 5 days ago
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What is Maryland’s DNA‑collection statute and how many matches, prosecutions, and convictions has it produced?
We'll hear argument next this morning in Case 12-207, Maryland v. King. Ms. Winfrey?
Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the Court, since 2009, when Maryland began to collect DNA samples from arrestees charged with violent crimes and burglary, there have been 225 matches, 75 prosecutions, and 42 convictions, including that of Respondent King.
Well, that's really good. I'll bet you if you conducted a lot of unreasonable searches and seizures, you'd get more convictions, too. That proves absolutely nothing.
Well, I think, Justice Scalia, it does, in fact, point out the fact that the statute is working, and in the State's view, the act is constitutional.
So that's its purpose, to enable you to identify future criminals — The perpetrators of future crimes, that's the purpose of it? I thought that that wasn't the purpose set forth in the statute.
No, not just to identify people. The purpose of the statute is to enable the State to identify perpetrators of serious crimes and to use the information to make bail determinations for people who are validly in their custody.
I'm having a hard time understanding the bail argument because it would my time, most bail decisions are made at the time of arrest. And here the arrest was in April and the results didn't come up until August.
That's true,
Justice.
And he had
been retained anyway, correct? He was detained anyway. And there might be a case where someone's gotten out, but it would be the rare case. You don't use it routinely for the bail determination.
At this point, you're absolutely correct, Justice Sotomayor. We don't use it routinely for a couple of reasons. For one, as in Mr. King's case, there has been in the past a more substantial delay in getting those results back. Our lab now is getting results between 11 and 17 days. Well, that
doesn't include the time to collect the sample, send it to you, or the time to do the match. It's just to do The genome mapping,
correct? No, that's for the whole process, Justice Sotomayor. It's for getting the sample and getting it into the system, the DNA profile, and getting the match back. That's what we're being told. It's from 11 to 17 days. Now, of course, that wouldn't be timely for that first bail determination, but the State, under Maryland's procedure, certainly has the ability to go back to the judge and ask that bail determination to be modified. And in point of fact, though, we don't have any particular statistics in Maryland. In California's amicus brief, which was joined by the 49 other states and D.C. and Puerto Rico, they actually do cite two particular examples where two people, Castillo and Shamblin, were arrested.
One was arrested on a credit card charge and another on a drug charge. Mr. Castillo was actually released on OR, and when his sample was matched, it came back to an unsolved rape and sodomy, and his OR was revoked. In Mr. Shamblin's case, he was granted diversion because his drug charge was a relatively low-level offense, and when the match came back, it tied him to a rape and murder case. His diversion was revoked, and he's currently pending trial for both of those charges.
Your procedure limits the collection to certain violent offenses,
right? It does, Mr. Chief Justice. But
your argument would not be so limited, would it? Under your theory, there's no reason you couldn't undertake this procedure with respect to anybody pulled over for a traffic violation.
Well, in Maryland, it's not just the fact that we have those violent crimes and burglaries. Actually, we don't. collect DNA unless someone's physically taken into custody. Now, with respect —
Well, I understand, but there's no reason you couldn't, right? I gather it's not that hard. Police officers who give breathalyzer tests, they can also take a Q-tip or whatever and get a DNA sample, right?
Well, what I would say to that is that with respect to a traffic stop, this Court said in Berkimer that a motorist has an expectation that a traffic stop is going to be relatively brief and temporary, that he or she will be given a citation and sent on — Well,
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is Maryland’s DNA‑collection statute and how many matches, prosecutions, and convictions has it produced?
0:01–7:10
2
How do the parties argue about the purpose of the DNA collection – identification of perpetrators versus bail determination?
7:10–14:04
3
What examples do the State and amicus briefs give of DNA matches leading to new charges or revoking releases?
14:04–22:04
4
Can the DNA‑swab be applied to traffic stops or Terry stops, and what precedents are cited?
22:04–28:37
5
How do the Justices compare DNA collection to fingerprinting and other bodily searches?
28:37–36:51
6
What is the debate over whether DNA sampling is a search incident to arrest or a special‑needs intrusion?
36:51–45:23
7
How does the speed of DNA analysis (11‑17 days vs. rapid 90‑minute testing) affect its relevance to bail decisions?
45:23–52:22
8
What are the privacy concerns about DNA profiles and how might future technology change the constitutional analysis?
52:22–1:01:05