State v. Scarborough
| Decision Date | 28 August 2006 |
| Citation | 201 S.W.3d 607 |
| Parties | STATE of Tennessee v. Bruce Warren SCARBOROUGH. State of Tennessee v. Mack T. Transou. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Mark E. Stephens, District Public Defender, and John Halstead, Assistant Public Defender, Knoxville, Tennessee, for the Appellant, Bruce Warren Scarborough.
Mike Mosier (at trial on No. 02-359) and Richard L. Finney (at trial on No. 02-360 and on appeal in both cases), Jackson, Tennessee, attorneys for the Appellant, Mack T. Transou.
Paul G. Summers, Attorney General & Reporter; Michael E. Moore, Solicitor General; Brent C. Cherry, Assistant Attorney General; Randall E. Nichols, District Attorney General, and Kevin Allen, Assistant District Attorney (Scarborough); Jerry Woodall, District Attorney General, and Jody S. Pickens, Assistant District Attorney General (Transou), attorneys for the Appellee, State of Tennessee.
CORNELIA A. CLARK, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which WILLIAM M. BARKER, C.J., E. RILEY ANDERSON, ADOLPHO A. BIRCH, JR., and JANICE M. HOLDER, JJ., joined.
We granted these appeals to determine whether the extraction of blood from a convicted and incarcerated felon for DNA analysis pursuant to Tennessee's DNA collection statute, Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-35-321 (2003), is constitutional under both the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 7 of the Tennessee Constitution. These three cases come before us upon Defendant Scarborough's interlocutory appeal from the denial of his motion to suppress evidence and upon Defendant Transou's direct appeals from his convictions in two separate cases. Transou also challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions of rape and aggravated burglary in one of his cases and the sentences he received for those offenses. We conclude that the DNA collection statute is constitutional as applied here. We further hold that Transou consented to having his blood drawn; that the evidence is sufficient to support Transou's convictions of rape and aggravated burglary; and that his sentences for those crimes are valid. The judgments of the Court of Criminal Appeals in all three cases are affirmed.
The appeals in these three cases were consolidated for oral argument because they involve related questions of law involving Tennessee Code Annotated section 40-35-321 (2003) ("the DNA collection statute") which provides:
(d)(1) When a court sentences a person convicted of any felony offense committed on or after July 1, 1998, it shall order the person to provide a biological specimen for the purpose of DNA analysis as defined in subsection (a). If the person is not incarcerated at the time of sentencing, the order shall require the person to report to the county or district health department, which shall gather the specimen. If the person is incarcerated at the time of sentencing, the order shall require the chief administrative officer of the institution of incarceration to designate a qualified person to gather the specimen. The biological specimen shall be forwarded by the approved agency or entity collecting such specimen to the Tennessee bureau of investigation which shall maintain it as provided in § 38-6-113. The court shall make the providing of such a specimen a condition of probation or community correction if either is granted.
We begin by reviewing briefly the background of each case.
On March 10, 1999, defendant Bruce Warren Scarborough pleaded guilty in Blount County to committing aggravated burglary, theft, and sexual battery on August 25, 1998. Aggravated burglary and sexual battery are Class C and E felonies, respectively. See id. §§ 39-14-403(b), 39-13-505(c). Scarborough was incarcerated for his crimes and, on April 22, 1999, participated in the prison facility's health screening for new inmates. During this screening, he was requested to submit a blood specimen pursuant to the DNA collection statute for DNA analysis, defined as "the process through which deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in a human biological specimen is analyzed and compared with DNA from another biological specimen for identification purposes." Id. § 40-35-321(a). Scarborough signed a consent form for the blood draw and DNA analysis, and a blood specimen was obtained. A DNA analysis was performed, and the results were submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
In June 2002 the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reported that the DNA profile obtained from the 1999 specimen submitted by Scarborough matched the DNA profile obtained from a sample of forensic evidence recovered during a physical examination conducted on J.S., a woman who reported that she had been raped in Knox County on March 2, 1997.1 Following this match, a search warrant was obtained on July 8, 2002, and a second specimen of blood was taken from Scarborough. Analysis of the second specimen confirmed that Scarborough was the source of the forensic evidence obtained during the examination of the 1997 rape victim. Scarborough was subsequently charged with four counts of aggravated rape against J.S. That case is before us today.
Scarborough filed a motion to suppress the evidence obtained as a result of the blood specimen drawn in 1999 pursuant to the DNA collection statute, asserting that the DNA collection statute is unconstitutional because it violates his federal and state constitutional rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. The trial court denied the motion on its merits but granted an interlocutory appeal. The Court of Criminal Appeals accepted the interlocutory appeal and affirmed the judgment of the trial court. Scarborough then sought this Court's review, which we granted.2
Defendant Mack Transou was convicted in 1999 of the Class E felony offense of driving after being declared a motor vehicle habitual offender. See id. §§ 55-10-613(a), 55-10-616(b). The offense date was May 14, 1997. Transou was subsequently incarcerated for his infraction. During intake processing at the prison, Transou signed a consent form and submitted to a blood draw. A DNA analysis was performed and the results were submitted to CODIS. Transou's DNA profile was eventually matched to profiles developed from forensic evidence obtained in two unsolved crimes: the reported rape of S.K. in December 2001 and the reported rape of C.T. in March 2002. Transou was subsequently charged with both sets of offenses. In both cases he filed a motion to suppress the evidence obtained pursuant to the 1999 blood draw taken while he was in prison.3 The motions were consolidated in the trial court for a single hearing on January 9, 2003.
At the suppression hearing, Teresa Patterson, a licensed practical nurse, testified that she had been employed by the Department of Correction to draw blood samples from inmates. She explained the procedure:
The first thing we would do as they entered intake would be explain the procedure to all the inmates because there was a consent form to sign. After the inmates sign the consent form, they would be brought into the lab room where the blood would be drawn, labeled at the same exact time, packaged at the exact same time and then sealed.
Ms. Patterson identified a consent form bearing her signature dated September 7, 1999. This form also bears Transou's name at the location indicating consent to a blood draw. Ms. Patterson stated that inmates would occasionally object to having their blood drawn and that there was an administrative procedure in place to address those objections.
The consent form dated September 7, 1999, and bearing Transou's name was admitted into evidence. It is titled "Consent for DNA Analysis" and provides, in pertinent part, as follows:
I, Mack Transou, understand that I am being requested to allow the health professional to collect a blood specimen as required in statute TCA § 40-35-321, collection of biological specimens for DNA analysis—persons convicted of certain offenses—condition of release from imprisonment.
TCA § 40-35-321 provides that any person convicted of violating or attempting to violate § 39-13-502 (Aggravated Rape), § 39-13-503 (Rape), § 39-13-504 (Aggravated Sexual Battery), § 39-15-505 (Sexual Battery), § 39-13-522 (Rape of a Child), or § 39-15-302 (Incest), must provide a biological specimen for the purpose of DNA analysis. Furthermore, TCA § 40-35-321 provides that any person convicted of any felony offense committed on or after July 1, 1998, must provide a biological specimen for the purpose of DNA analysis. The biological specimen will be forwarded to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation which shall maintain it as provided in § 39-6-113.
If a person convicted of violating or attempting to violate § 39-13-502, § 39-13-503, § 39-13-504, § 39-13-505, § 39-13-522, § 39-15-302, or § 40-35-321 [sic], and committed to the custody of the commissioner of correction for a term of imprisonment, does not provide a biological specimen for the purpose of DNA analysis before completion of the person's term of imprisonment, that person may not be released on parole or otherwise unless and until such person provides such a specimen.
If an inmate is convicted of a disciplinary offense for refusing to provide a biological specimen, he/she shall forfeit the opportunity to earn behavior sentence credits until such time he/she provides a biological specimen. If applicable, previously earned behavior sentence credits shall not be forfeited. A person refusing to provide a biological specimen may at a later date provide a specimen. For those persons refusing to provide a specimen, a due process hearing shall be provided by the disciplinary board.
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