State v. H. K. D. S. (A163158)

469 P.3d 770, 305 Or. App. 86
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedJuly 1, 2020
DocketA163158
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 469 P.3d 770 (State v. H. K. D. S. (A163158)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. H. K. D. S. (A163158), 469 P.3d 770, 305 Or. App. 86 (Or. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

Argued and submitted August 17, 2018, resubmitted en banc January 15; reversed and remanded July 1, 2020

In the Matter of H. K. D. S., a Youth. STATE OF OREGON, Respondent, v. H. K. D. S., Appellant. Yamhill County Circuit Court 16JU03447; A163158 469 P3d 770

In this delinquency proceeding, youth, age 12, was found to be within the juvenile court’s delinquency jurisdiction for acts that, if committed by an adult, would constitute first-degree sexual abuse, ORS 163.427. That finding was based, in part, on evidence that seminal fluid containing DNA matching youth’s was found on underwear belonging to youth’s four-year-old stepsister. Officers made the DNA match after obtaining—without a warrant but with signed parental consent forms—a buccal swab from youth. Before the hearing, youth moved to suppress the DNA evidence obtained through the buccal swab. He argued that the collection of the DNA was both an unconstitutional search and seizure under Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution because officers did not obtain a warrant and, in youth’s view, no exception to the warrant requirement applied. In particu- lar, youth contended that he did not consent to the search and, further, that the consent of third parties—in this case, his parents—cannot authorize officers to search a child’s person in the context of a criminal investigation. The juvenile court denied youth’s motion to suppress. On appeal, youth assigns error to that denial, renewing his arguments below. Held: The juvenile court erred in denying youth’s motion to suppress the DNA evidence obtained by the buccal swab, and that error was not harmless. Youth merely acquiesced in the search and did not consent to it for purposes of Article I, section 9. Furthermore, under Article I, section 9, parental consent alone does not permit law enforcement to search the person of a child suspected of a crime for DNA. Reversed and remanded.

En Banc Ronald W. Stone, Judge. Christa Obold Eshleman argued the cause and filed the briefs for appellant. Cite as 305 Or App 86 (2020) 87

Jonathan N. Schildt, Assistant Attorney General, argued the cause for respondent. Also on the brief were Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General, and Benjamin Gutman, Solicitor General. Before Egan, Chief Judge, and Armstrong, Ortega, DeVore, Lagesen, Tookey, DeHoog, Shorr, James, Aoyagi, Powers, Mooney, and Kamins, Judges. LAGESEN, J. Reversed and remanded. Tookey, J., concurring in part, dissenting in part. 88 State v. H. K. D. S. (A163158)

LAGESEN, J. Does Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution permit law enforcement officers investigating a crime to obtain a DNA sample from a juvenile suspect without a warrant if the child’s parents consent to the search but the child does not? If it does, does the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution do the same? We took this case into full court to consider those important questions. We conclude that parental consent is not an exception to Article I, section 9’s otherwise-applicable warrant require- ment for the search of a person for DNA evidence in the course of a criminal investigation. As we will explain, that answer disposes of this appeal and requires us to reverse. We therefore do not reach the Fourth Amendment question. This is a delinquency proceeding. Youth, age 12, was found to be within the juvenile court’s delinquency jurisdic- tion for acts that if committed by an adult would constitute first-degree sexual abuse, ORS 163.427. That finding was based, in part, on evidence that seminal fluid containing DNA matching youth’s was found on underwear belonging to youth’s four-year-old stepsister. Officers made the DNA match after obtaining a buccal swab from youth. Youth com- plied with the buccal swab after the officer described the process to him and his mother told him that it was “okay.” Officers did not obtain a warrant for the buccal swab from youth. Instead, they asked youth’s mother and father each to sign written consent forms, which each parent did. Both parents signed forms provided by the Carlton Police Department. Those forms authorized the collection of “bio- logical evidence samples” from youth. The forms required each parent to certify that “I further understand that these samples may be used in a court of law during a criminal procedure/prosecution and may be used as evidence against [youth].” Because youth and youth’s mother were living in Alaska at the time of the swab, the Anchorage Police Department collected the swab on behalf of the Carlton Police Department. The Alaska officers requested that mother also sign the Anchorage Police Department’s consent form, and Cite as 305 Or App 86 (2020) 89

mother did. On that form—which did not fully track the sit- uation at hand—mother acknowledged that, “having been informed of my Constitutional Rights not to have a search made of my * * * person, without a search warrant,” she was authorizing police “to conduct a complete search of [youth].” Mother further acknowledged that she was authorizing offi- cers to take “from my * * * person any evidence or property needed for the criminal investigation of [unspecified crime] which was reported on 12/22/15.” Before the adjudicatory hearing, youth moved to suppress the DNA evidence obtained through the buccal swab. He argued that the collection of the DNA was both an unconstitutional search and seizure under Article I, section 9, and the Fourth Amendment because officers did not obtain a warrant and, in youth’s view, no exception to the warrant requirement applied. In particular, youth con- tended that he had not himself consented to the search for purposes of the consent exception to the warrant require- ment and, further, that the consent of third parties—in this case, his parents—cannot authorize officers to search some- one’s person in the context of a criminal investigation. The state argued in response that both youth and his parents had validly consented to the search. The juvenile court denied youth’s motion to sup- press. Recognizing that the buccal swab was a search of youth, the court concluded that youth validly consented to that search, obviating the need for officers to obtain a war- rant. Following the adjudicatory hearing, the court found that youth had committed two acts which, if committed by an adult, would constitute first-degree sexual abuse. In its ruling, the court noted that the evidence connecting youth to the victim’s underwear played a pivotal role in its find- ings. Youth appealed. On appeal, youth assigns error to the denial of his motion to suppress. He contends that the juvenile court erred in determining that he had voluntarily consented to the buccal swab. He argues further that his parents’ con- sent to the buccal swab, in the absence of his own voluntary consent, did not excuse officers from obtaining the warrant otherwise required by Article I, section 9, and the Fourth 90 State v. H. K. D. S. (A163158)

Amendment for the search of his person that occurred when officers swabbed his mouth for DNA. In response, the state, taking a different approach than it did before the juvenile court, does not contend that youth himself voluntarily con- sented to the buccal swab. The state, instead, contends that youth’s mother’s consent to the search authorized officers to obtain youth’s DNA without a warrant under both Article I, section 9, and the Fourth Amendment.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Untitled Case
D. Oregon, 2026
In re Estate of Kapileo
Sup. Ct. of the Comm. of the N. Mariana Islands, 2026
State v. J. H.
Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2023
State v. Tate
501 P.3d 1064 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2021)
State v. H. K. D. S. (A163271)
469 P.3d 768 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2020)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
469 P.3d 770, 305 Or. App. 86, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-h-k-d-s-a163158-orctapp-2020.