Opinion ID: 2622136
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Voluntary

Text: ś 107 Next, we must analyze whether Athan's actions were voluntary. McKinney, 148 Wash.2d at 29, 60 P.3d 46. ś 108 Actions are voluntary if they are done by design or intention: not accidental: intentional, or the person is acting of oneself: not constrained, impelled, or influenced by another: spontaneous, free. Webster's Third New International Dictionary 2564 (2002). It is apparent from this definition that mere absence of force is not sufficient to show that Athan's actions were voluntary. Actions can be involuntary simply because they are the direct result of outside influence. ś 109 Here, the fact that the detectives posed as attorneys to obtain the saliva and DNA caused Athan's actions to be involuntary. Although the detectives did not force Athan to provide a saliva sample, their actions were akin to those of law enforcement officers in Ferguson v. City of Charleston, 532 U.S. 67, 84, 121 S.Ct. 1281, 149 L.Ed.2d 205 (2001), in which the officers obtained consensually extracted bodily fluids of pregnant patients suspected of drug abuse from hospital staff without the patients' knowledge. The United States Supreme Court explicitly rejected the practice and concluded the patients did not provide the body fluids voluntarily, reasoning that patients would not expect hospital staff to provide incriminating evidence against them even if the staff were required by law to report incriminating conduct. Id. at 78 n. 13, 121 S.Ct. 1281. Similarly, Athan would not expect someone he believed to be an attorney to obtain incriminating evidence against him by extracting the saliva from the envelope he sent to the attorney. ś 110 Athan's actions were also not voluntary because the detectives used specialized technology to see his DNA. In Young, we held that the defendant did not voluntarily expose his activities when law enforcement used a device that went well beyond an enhancement of natural senses . . . [and] enabled the officers to conduct their surveillance without Mr. Young's knowledge. Young, 123 Wash.2d at 183, 867 P.2d 593. The infrared device thus represent[ed] a particularly intrusive means of observation that exceeds our established surveillance limits. Id. Just as in Young, the testing of Athan's saliva went beyond enhancement of natural senses and allowed law enforcement to observe Athan's DNA without his knowledge. Just as Young did not consent to the infrared surveillance, Athan did not consent to the extraction and sequencing of his DNA. ś 111 Because Athan did not voluntarily provide his saliva and DNA to the detectives, I would conclude that he retained his privacy interests in his saliva and DNA when he licked an envelope and mailed it to the detectives.