Corbin v. State

• Decision Date: 18 October 2012
• Docket Number: No. 48,Sept. Term, 2011.,48
• Citation: 428 Md. 488,52 A.3d 946
• Parties: Tonto CORBIN v. STATE of Maryland.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

428 Md. 488

52 A.3d 946

Tonto CORBIN

v.STATE of Maryland.

No. 48, Sept. Term, 2011.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Aug. 22, 2012.

Reconsideration Denied Oct. 18, 2012.

Stephen B. Mercer, Chief Attorney (Paul B. DeWolfe, Public Defender, Baltimore, MD), on brief, for Petitioner.

Carrie J. Williams, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Douglas F. Gansler, Atty. Gen. of Maryland, Baltimore, MD), on brief, for Respondent.

Argued before BELL, C.J., HARRELL, BATTAGLIA, GREENE, ADKINS, BARBERA and ALAN M. WILNER, (Retired, Specially Assigned), JJ.

ADKINS, J.

We again examine the evolving law regarding the scope of Fourth Amendment protections in the context of the collection and analysis of DNA by police. Unlike in earlier Maryland cases, the Maryland DNA Collection Act does not apply here because Petitioner Tonto Corbin was not arrested for any of the Act's predicate offenses.¹ Rather, Corbin was on probation for a drunken driving offense when his DNA was collected. The DNA was taken from saliva that Corbin left on a straw in the course of complying with an alcohol monitoring program mandated by the terms of his probation. Corbin challenges the use of that saliva in connection with a separate murder investigation that resulted in incriminating evidence against him.

The trial court denied Corbin's motion to suppress the DNA evidence on Fourth Amendment grounds. The State then introduced the DNA and lab report into evidence to prove his connection to the homicide, and he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Corbin appealed to the Court of Special Appeals. That court, in an unreported opinion, rejected his claim that the seizure of his DNA without a warrant violated the Fourth Amendment, ruling instead that Corbin did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in either the testing straw or the DNA on it.

We granted certiorari to address the following questions, as Corbin phrased them:

1. Does a DWI probationer, who had previously declined police requests to seize and test his DNA, voluntarily surrender his breath for DNA testing where State officers seize his DNA on the false pretense of seizing and testing only his blood alcohol?

2. In an entirely circumstantial case, was the evidence of Petitioner's criminal agency legally insufficient because the State failed to establish that it was any stronger than evidence implicating two or three other suspects?

We shall hold that Corbin's Fourth Amendment rights were not violated when the State recovered his DNA from the straw utilized for this mandatory test. We shall also hold that the evidence was sufficient to sustain Corbin's conviction.²

Statement of Facts and Legal Proceedings

In December 1995, Jacqueline Tilghman's body was discovered near a farm road in Somerset County. The investigation concluded that the cause of her death was homicide, committed where she was found. Semen was found on vaginal and anal swabs taken of the victim. DNA samples obtained from the swabs were turned over to the Maryland State Police crime laboratory for further testing and storage.

The investigation into her death continued into 2001, at which point Corbin was identified as an associate of the victim. Investigators asked Corbin to voluntarily submit a DNA sample, but he declined. Investigators discovered that Corbin was on probation for a DWI conviction and therefore subject to court-ordered breath tests for alcohol consumption. One testing method is a “deep lung” test, requiring the probationer to blow into a straw. Upon learning that the straw would be discarded following the test, investigators arranged with Corbin's probation officer to secure the straw after he had completed this test.

Once obtained, the straw was sent to the crime lab for DNA analysis. The crime lab matched Corbin's DNA on the straw to DNA in the semen recovered from the vaginal and anal swabs of the victim taken earlier in the homicide investigation. Based on the match, police obtained a warrant for another DNA sample from Corbin, which confirmed the match. It was the second DNA sample that, ultimately, was admitted into evidence against Corbin over the defense objection.

In 2004, Corbin was indicted for murder.³ Before trial, Corbin filed a motion to suppress the DNA evidence on the grounds that the seizure of his DNA by the State without a warrant violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment. The State argued that there was no Fourth Amendment violation because Corbin was on probation, the terms of which required him to submit to the breath test from which the DNA was extracted. Corbin's motion was denied by Judge Daniel M. Long of the Circuit Court for Somerset County, who explained:

The touchstone of the Fourth Amendment is reasonableness, and the reasonableness of a search is determined ... by assessing on the one hand the degree to which it intrudes upon an individual's privacy and, on the other, the degree to which it is needed for the promotion of legitimate governmental interest.

With respect to those persons on probation, however, it has been held inherent in the very nature of probation ... that probationers do not enjoy the absolute liberty to which every citizen is entitled.

[A] case ... out of the Third Circuit, U.S. v[.] Sczubelek ... involved the taking of a DNA sample from a probationer. And although not directly on point there was mention that probationers do not enjoy the same liberties that ordinary citizens enjoy. The court noted in its opinion that probation officers have a special need to supervise probationers apart from a normal law enforcement need that justifies a departure from the normal warrant and probable cause requirements.

This Court therefore[,] in balancing the privacy rights of the defendant against legitimate interests of the state, is not persuaded that the DNA sample taken from the breath tube or breath straw obtained from the defendant through the efforts of his probation agent violates his Fourth Amendment rights under the constitution.

After Corbin waived his right to a trial by jury, the parties submitted the case to the Circuit Court on an agreed statement of facts, and Judge Long found Corbin guilty of involuntary manslaughter. The judge sentenced Corbin to ten years' imprisonment, with all but eight years suspended, and two years supervised probation.

The statement of facts was read into the record as follows:

The evidence in this case would show that, at approximately 7:20 a.m. on the morning of December 27th, 1995, the body of [the victim], a thirty-two-year-old black female, was found by Ronald and Elwood Hall while the Halls were checking their muskrat traps on their farm located on Marumsco Road, one mile West of Cornstack Road in Marion, Somerset County, Maryland.

The victim was found [lying] on her back with her head tilted to the right. Her entire head and shoulder area were covered with blood. The front and left side of her head was severely injured. Her right arm was down to her left side. She had gloves on both hands. A blood-soaked white [sweatshirt] was on the upper body and was pushed up, exposing her breast. Her bra was also pushed up over her breast. A pair of white panties, white [sweatpants], and black jeans were all down around her ankle on the right leg. A large abrasion and bruise was obvious to the middle of the victim's chest.

The ground ... around the victim's head and upper body was saturated with blood. The surrounding tall grass vegetation was splattered with blood as far as eleven feet south of the victim and extending toward the ditch that parallels Marumsco Road. Blood spatter was also found from the body to the center of the dirt lane, in as high as six feet on tall grass vegetation surrounding the victim to approximate[ly] eight inches in diameter. Blood soaked areas were on the ground and grass next to the east side of the lane by the victim. These facts indicate that the crime occurred at this location.

An autopsy was subsequently performed at the office of the medical examiner for the State of Maryland by Doctor Locke of that office. Doctor Locke would testify that the victim died of strangulation and blunt force injuries to the head. The pattern of injuries to the external and internal structures of the neck [was] most consistent with a manual-type strangulation. The pattern of blunt force injuries to the left side of the face and temple region were consistent with the deceased having received a minimum of five to six blows to that area by a hard, blunt object. The manner of death was homicide.

Evidence was collected from the victim at the scene and sent to the Maryland State Police crime lab for analysis. The results of that analysis would show that [Corbin's] DNA profile was found on the vaginal and anal swabs of the victim. No other DNA profile other than the victim['s] was found on those swabs. Wesley Phillips'[s] DNA profile was found in the underpants—the crotch of the underpants of the victim and in the crotch of the [sweatpants] of the victim. There was also possibly another partial DNA profile on the underpants. That profile was not identified, but [Corbin] was excluded [as] a source of that profile. There was an unidentified source on the crotch of the victim's jeans.

Witnesses would testify that the victim was with Wesley Phillips earlier in the evening on December 27th of 1995.

The State would present two expert witnesses in the case: Argi Magers, who is a forensic chemist for the Maryland State Police crime lab, as well as Dr. Locke, who is a medical examiner for the State of Maryland.

The State would seek testimony from those witnesses that the victim never stood up after intercourse because there was no evidence that [Corbin's] semen had drained on to any of the victim's clothing. The State's experts would testify that the absence of [Corbin's] semen on the victim's clothing was consistent with the victim not standing up after intercourse. And they would testify that the underwear and clothing would be a...