While Wyche was in jail for a probation violation, a detective asked for a saliva sample, telling Wyche that he was suspected in Winn-Dixie supermarket burglary. The detective invented the story about the supermarket burglary in order to obtain Wyche’s consent to take swabs for a sexual crime investigation. Wyche consented to the sample and his DNA cleared him on the sexual assault.
However, another detective learned that Wyche had given a DNA sample and asked for the sample to be compared to blood drops left at a gift shop burglary scene. This time Wyche’s DNA matched. Wyche claimed that his consent was rendered involuntary by the first detective’s pretense of the false supermarket burglary.
The Florida Supreme Court disagreed. Though the police deception was a factor in the analysis, Wyche knew that they wanted the DNA sample to investigate a crime. The detective did not tell Wyche that he had to give the sample. The detective made no threats and no promises of lenient treatment to obtain the sample.
Thus, applying a totality of circumstances analysis, the consent for the DNA sample was voluntary. Score one for a creative and committed Florida cop! Wyche v. State, --- So.2d ----, 2008 WL 2678058 (Fla. 2808).