NCJ Number
104363
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 56 Issue: 2 Dated: (February 1987) Pages: 22-30
Date Published
1987
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article examines factors that affected the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Winston v. Lee (1985), which assessed the reasonableness of a body search that involved the use of surgery to remove a bullet viewed by the police as possible evidence in an armed robbery case.
Abstract
Following a gun battle between a store owner and a man attempting to rob him, Lee was found wounded eight blocks from the scene of the shooting. He was identified by the store owner at the hospital. A search warrant for the removal of the bullet was challenged by Lee as an unreasonable invasion of his privacy. Factors considered by the Court in assessing the reasonableness of this body search were the threat to life or safety of the proposed procedure, the extent of the intrusion upon bodily integrity, and the reasonableness of the search method. In assessing the extent of society's interest in conducting the intrusive body search, the Court considered the reliability of the evidence sought through the proposed search and the availability of evidence from alternative, less intrusive sources. In 'Lee,' the weight in favor of the defendant's privacy interests was so overwhelming that the Court did not focus on the potential evidentiary value of the bullet. Given courts' special sensitivity to body searches, officers proposing such searches should obtain a search warrant which includes a description of a reasonable means for conducting the search. 48 footnotes.