Davis v. Mississippi

Posted by Melda Research on May 23rd, 2019

The petitioner, John Davis, a 14-year-old Negro boy, was convicted of raping an 86 year old white woman with whom he had done yard work, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. In the case, the police took Davis into custody without a warrant, and they held him for two days. While being confined, the police interrogated him and took his fingerprints. The prints were then sent to FBI for comparison with the latent prints that were found in the home of the old woman. These fingerprint evidence were admitted at the petitioner’s trial for rape, and he was convicted, and the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the conviction. In an appeal, the state accepted that they did not have a probable cause to arrest Davis during the time they took the fingerprints. A majority opinion prepared by Justice Brennan held that the fingerprints of the petitioner were as a result of illegal search and the evidence should not be used in the trial, and his conviction was reversed.

Contention of parties

The state argued that the detection was a type that does not require probable cause. They claimed that detection happened during investigatory stage; hence, it was not seizure needing a probable cause. The second argument was that the detention for the main purpose of getting fingerprints does not need a probable cause.

In the arguments presented, Justice Brennan held that the fingerprints taken were as a result of illegal search and should be excluded from the trial. The court made it clear that the Fourth Amendment protection applies to the fingerprints and also the arrest to take the fingerprints.  According to the Justice, the claim that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to the investigatory stage is to misconceive the aim of the Fourth Amendment.  The fourth amendment aims to prevent intrusion upon personal security of our citizenry whether the intrusions are viewed as arrests or investigatory detention (Champion, 2005).

Issue

The issue relevant in this case is the violation of the Fourth Amendment when he his fingerprints were taken. The rights of Davis were violated under the Fourth Amendment when his fingerprints were taken as fingerprinting is a limited intrusion on personal liberty.

Decision

 On April 22, 1969, the Supreme Court provided a 6-2 decision claiming that the case of Davis V Mississippi should be reversed and upholds the law in question Fourth Amendment as constitutional.  The US supreme court held that taking the fingerprints is covered by Fourth Amendment that prohibits against the unreasonable search and seizure.

Reasoning

The Supreme Court made the ruling in the way because of the manner in which the fingerprints were got which is a violation of the Fourth Amendment. The ruling was based on the case of Mapp V Ohio that held that all the evidence received by seizure and search in violation of the constitution is inadmissible in the state court and the fingerprint evidence has no exception to the comprehensive rule. 

The rule of law

The fingerprint evidence is seen as not trustworthy that is illegally obtained, and it should be excluded in the evidence.

Reference

Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. 721 (1969).

Champion, D (2005) The American dictionary of criminal justice. Scarecrow Press

 Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at MeldaResearch.Com in legitimate custom writing services Texas. If you need a similar paper you can place your order from research paper writing service Florida services.