Court Opinion

ID: 9703467
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 23:57:52.03015+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:49.264326
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion
Givan, J.
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion in this case.
I think the majority is in error in holding that it is in all instances improper to “enter the body” of a person to obtain evidence which might in some way incriminate that person. This matter was thoroughly explored by the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Schmerber v. California (1966), 384 U.S. 757, 16 L. Ed. 2d 908, 86 S. Ct. 1826. In that case the defendant had been convicted of driving an automobile while under the influence of intoxicating liquor. He was arrested while receiving treatment for injuries suffered in an automobile accident. At the direction of a police officer a blood sample was withdrawn from the accused’s body by a physician. Chemical analysis of the blood sample revealed the presence of alcohol in the blood sufficient to indicate intoxication. The Court discussed and compared that situation with the situation in Breithaupt v. Abram (1957), 352 U.S. 432, 1 L. Ed. 2d 448, 77 S. Ct. 408. The Court pointed out, however, that the Breithaupt case differed from Schmerber in that Breithaupt was unconscious at the time the blood was withdrawn, and that such act offended “a sense of justice.” However, the Court went on to point out that there is a difference between physical examination which is directed to obtain “physical evidence” and that which is conducted to com*671pel “communications” or “testimony.” After making such observations, the Court stated:
“In the present case, however, no such problem of application is presented. Not even a shadow of testimonial compulsion upon or enforced communication by the accused was involved either in the extraction or in the chemical analysis. Petitioner’s testimonial capacities were in no way implicated; indeed, his participation, except as a donor, was irrelevant to the results of the test, which depend on chemical analysis and on that alone. Since the blood test evidence, although an incriminating product of compulsion, was neither petitioner’s testimony nor evidence relating to some communicative act or writing by the petitioner, it was not inadmissible on privilege grounds.” Schmerber, supra, at p.765.
In the case at bar, Adams was fully conscious and under medical examination and treatment at the time the discovery was made that his body contained fragments of a bullet which might well establish that he had participated in the robbery in question. Upon making this discovery through medical examination, the Sheriff of Marion County made an affidavit for a search warrant, which affidavit reads as follows:
“AFFIDAVIT FOR SEARCH WARRANT
“STATE OF INDIANA, COUNTY OF MARION, SS:
“Lee R. Eads, Marion County Sheriff, swears that he believes and has good cause to believe that Harry J. Adams committed the crime of first degree murder by killing a human being, to-wit: Jimmie V. Wingate, in the perpetration of a robbery on June 13, 1970, at Preston’s Super Market, 7021 North Keystone Avenue, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, and that the said Harry J. Adams, a white, male person, approximately 47 years of age, 5'7" tall and 185 lbs., brown eyes, hair dyed black, presently an inmate in my jail under Cause No. M10-70-6721, Marion County Municipal Court, presently has concealed, lodged and imbedded within his person, to-wit: within the soft tissues of the left side of his pelvis and buttocks behind the iliac wing, property constituting evidence of the above described offense and property which shows that the said Harry J. Adams committed the said offense, which property is de*672scribed as follows: scattered metallic fragments which are a residue of gunshot wounds inflicted upon the said Harry J. Adams by the said decedent, from the Marion County Sheriff’s 38 calibre service revolver of the said decedent during the commission of the above-described offense, which metallic fragments are more particularly shown by the x-ray of the pelvis of the said Harry J. Adams made on July 5, 1970, at the Marion County General Hospital, which x-ray is attached hereto, made a part hereof, and marked exhibit ‘A’.
“That this affiant believes and has good cause to believe that said property above described is so located within the said Harry J. Adams because of the following: That on the 5th day of July, 1970, the said Harry J. Adams was lawfully arrested by Marion County Sheriff Deputy Harlan Rynard on a charge of disorderly conduct and brought to my jail for processing upon said charge. I was told by Marion County Sheriff Floyd Roney, a Detective Sergeant, a person who is credible to my own personal knowledge as a result of daily personal contacts with him in our police work, that he was making a personal inspection of the said Harry J. Adams in the said processing procedure when he discovered two bullet holes of recent origin in the left hip and buttocks of the said Harry J. Adams and the said Harry J. Adams told him, the said Floyd Roney, that the holes had been caused by a fall. I then personally inspected the said Harry J. Adams and saw the two bullet holes in the left hip and buttocks. The said Harry J. Adams was then taken to Marion County General Hospital for examination, x-rays and appropriate treatment. The said Harry J. Adams was x-rayed at said General Hospital on July 5, 1970. S. B. Berkshire, M.D., a credible person as a medical doctor and radiologist, reported to me in a written report that the x-rays of the said Harry J. Adams revealed scattered metallic fragments in the soft tissues of the left side of the pelvis chiefly behind the illiac wing. The said S. B. Berkshire, M.D., testified yesterday in the Marion Criminal Court, Room Two, in a habeas corpus proceedings that these fragments are located from a fraction of an inch to an inch and a half beneath the surface of the skin of the said Harry J. Adams. Timothy Cravens, M.D., a credible person as a medical doctor, reported to me in writing that the said wound in the hip of the said Harry J. Adams was probably due to a gunshot wound. Sgt. Robert Stout, a firearms expert, has personally examined the x-ray attached hereto and has stated to me his opinion that the said metallic frag*673ments, if removed from within the said Harry J. Adams, are of sufficient size that a ballistics examination could reveal what weapon was used to inflict said wound and whether the bullet that made said wound was special police ammunition.
“The search herein requested would be carried out by F. A. Rice, Jr., M.D., a medical doctor licensed to practice medicine in Indiana, a deputy coroner, and a part time doctor for this department, in the presence of this affiant, and the said F. A. Rice, Jr., M.D., has told me that said fragments could be quickly and easily removed from the tissue in a minor procedure under local anesthesia with the aid of a fluoroscope, and that said procedure would involve no pain, discomfort, or risk to the said Harry J. Adams.
“The basis of my belief and good cause to believe that said metallic fragments are a residue from a gun shot wound inflicted in the course of said Robbery by the decedent are as follows. On the 26 day of June, 1970, a confidential informant told me that the man our department was looking for in the Preston’s Super Market robbery wherein deputy sheriffs were shot was Harry J. Adams, the man described above, and that the said Harry J. Adams had been shot in the leg in said robbery and had two bullet holes in him. Up to said date when I received this information our department had been conducting a manhunt for a suspect with a bullet wound because our investigation at the scene of this robbery-murder disclosed that the deceased officer, Jimmie V. Wingate, had fired three (3) shots from his 38 calibre service revolver at his assailants as they exited the super market, and only two of his bullets could be accounted for. One of his bullets struck the west brick wall of the market immediately north of the exit door at a height of approximately eight (8) inches above the ground, and the other bullet struck said wall approximately twenty-five (25) inches above the ground. Also, the wounded deputy sheriff, Emery Summers, thought that he might have shot one of the subjects.
“The defendant Harry J. Adams has a record and reputation with this department as an armed robber based upon the facts that he has been arrested four (4) times for robbery and has been convicted of the same twice, having served a 15 year term in Indiana and a 10-25 sentence in Ohio. Also, in the defendant’s last arrest for robbery in 1963 in Chicago, he was jointly charged with the crime with William Lemons, his alleged accomplice in this crime who has *674been positively identified by Deputy Sheriff Emery Summers as a participant in the instant robbery-murder.
“Our investigation of this case included a check of area hospitals and that check revealed that no one by the name of Harry J. Adams had received any treatment within the preceding month for a gunshot or other wound. The gray hair of Harry J. Adams has been dyed black and the gray hair has now grown partially back. The bullet hole (entrance and exit wounds) is located at an approximate height of thirty (30) inches on the body of Harry J. Adams. Harry J. Adams lied to Deputy Sheriff Floyd Roney when he said he had received the holes in a fall, and the said Floyd Roney told me that he was present when the said Harry J. Adams was being given medical treatment for said wound at Marion County General Hospital and he then and there refused to tell the attending physician, Timothy Cravens, how he had received his injury.
“All of the above facts corroborate the information supplied me by my informant that the defendant, Harry J. Adams was involved in the said robbery-murder and had been shot therein, and all of the above establishes probable cause to believe that the requested search will yield property constituting evidence of the above described offense and property which shows that the said Harry J. Adams committed the said offense.
“Further, on July 23, 1970, this affiant obtained a Search Warrant for a search of the said Harry J. Adams, which Search Warrant is attached hereto, made a part hereof and marked Exhibit ‘A’. That the undersigned, by his Deputy Dushan Stiko, a Detective Sergeant, and with the Marion County Sheriff’s Department, who I personally know is credible due to my association with him in police work for many years, served this warrant on the said Harry J. Adams on July 26,1970, and Sgt. Stiko told me that'when so served the said Harry J. Adams told him that he would resist the search by force and physical violence if only a local anesthetic was used on him.
“S/Lee R. Eads
“Subscribed and sworn to before me, this 4th dajr of August, 1970.
“S/William Sharp
JUDGE of the Municipal Court of Marion County.”
*675It is clear from the affidavit submitted to the Judge who issued the warrant that probable cause existed to believe that the bullet fragments were, in fact, in the body of the appellant; that they were located a short distance under the skin in an area readily accessible by minor surgery and the extraction of those particles would pose no health hazard to the appellant. Under these circumstances, it seems abundantly clear that the search of appellant’s body for the fragments was reasonable.
The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows:
“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
Essentially the same language is contained in Article 1, § 11 of the Constitution of Indiana.
I agree with the Supreme Court of the United States in the Schmerber case, supra, and their holding that it is not per se a violation of the Constitution to invade a person’s body to obtain evidentiary matter. The real test in all cases of search, certainly in the case of invasion of the human body, is the test of reasonableness: i.e., a protection of the person involved against an unreasonable search of his body. Certainly one can conceive of a situation where a bullet might be so imbedded in the body that removal would constitute a great hazard to the life or physical well being of the person involved. In such a case a warrant should be refused on the ground that the search was unreasonable. Where, however, as in the case at bar, it is made abundantly clear to the Judge issuing the warrant that no such hazard exists and that the article is readily obtainable by a minor operation, the search then becomes reasonable.
*676I would, therefore, hold that the search warrant issued in this case was properly issued and that the evidence obtained by such search was admissible in the trial of the appellant.
Prentice, J., concurs.