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Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. 721 (1969)
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General SummaryThis case is from a collection containing the full text of over 16,000 Supreme Court cases from 1793 to the present. The body of Supreme Court decisions are, effectively, the final interpretation of the Constitution. Only an amendment to the Constitution can permanently overturn an interpretation and this has happened only four times in American history.
Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. 721 (1969)
Davis v. Mississippi No. 645 Argued February 26-27, 1969 Decided April 22, 1969 394 U.S. 721
CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF MISSISSIPPI
Syllabus
In connection with a rape investigation the Meridian, Mississippi, police, without warrants, brought numerous Negro youths to the police station for questioning and fingerprinting. Petitioner was thus questioned and fingerprinted, and released. Thereafter, concededly without a warrant or probable cause for arrest, the police drove petitioner to Jackson and confined him in jail overnight. After he was questioned and signed a statement, he was returned to Meridian and jailed. While so confined, he was again fingerprinted and these prints were sent to the FBI for comparison with latent prints found in the victim’s home. The fingerprint evidence was admitted at petitioner’s trial for rape, over objection that it was the product of unlawful detention, and he was convicted. The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the conviction.
Held:
1. Fingerprint evidence is no exception to the rule that all evidence obtained by searches and seizures in violation of the Constitution is inadmissible in a state court. Pp. 723-724.
2. The Fourth Amendment applies to involuntary detention occurring at the investigatory stage as well as at the accusatory stage. Pp. 726-727.
3. Detentions for the sole purpose of obtaining fingerprints are subject to the constraints of the Fourth Amendment. P. 727.
4. It is not determined here whether Fourth Amendment requirements could be met by narrowly circumscribed procedures for obtaining, during a criminal investigation, fingerprints of persons for whom there is no probable cause to arrest, since no attempt was made in this case to employ procedures which might comply with the Fourth Amendment. P. 728.
204 So.2d 270, reversed.
Contents:
Chicago: U.S. Supreme Court, "Syllabus," Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. 721 (1969) in 394 U.S. 721 394 U.S. 722. Original Sources, accessed November 24, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=PWFDRL1FQHPU9G8.
MLA: U.S. Supreme Court. "Syllabus." Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. 721 (1969), in 394 U.S. 721, page 394 U.S. 722. Original Sources. 24 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=PWFDRL1FQHPU9G8.
Harvard: U.S. Supreme Court, 'Syllabus' in Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. 721 (1969). cited in 1969, 394 U.S. 721, pp.394 U.S. 722. Original Sources, retrieved 24 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=PWFDRL1FQHPU9G8.
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