Police misconduct is a serious problem. When the police do something that isn’t appropriate, it can affect an entire case. Take, for example, this recent case out of New York in which a man whose DNA was allegedly discovered on a dead female will no longer face murder charges.
There’s good reason for the man not having to face charges and for having the case dismissed, and that reason is police misconduct. According to the story, the police wrongfully obtained the man’s DNA, and a judge would not allow an oder to obtain a second sample. This was despite showing that the DNA from the man’s sample and the DNA from the scene matched.
What misconduct took place?
In the man’s case, he speaks fluent Spanish but does not speak English well. When the police read his Miranda rights, they were given in Spanish. However, when he was signing a consent form to give DNA, the entire form was in English. Therefore, the trial court determined that the DNA was obtained unlawfully. The police also allegedly failed to interview the man’s roommates, co-workers or others about his whereabouts on the night of the woman’s death. They also failed to get a warrant for the deceased woman’s husband’s home, despite the fact that he had been arrested for alleged domestic violence.
The judge decided to dismiss the case for misconduct, allowing the man accused of murder to walk free. He is set to be deported, according to the news, despite the case against him being dropped and dismissed by the judge.