Posted on 05/18/2006 2:19:18 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
MADISON, WI (AP) -- Police were within their rights when they forced a drug suspect to drink a laxative in hopes of recovering a bag of heroin he had swallowed, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The laxative was reasonable because police had a clear expectation it would help reveal evidence of a crime, the court ruled in reversing a state appeals court decision. The laxative also may have reduced the danger Tomas Payano-Roman would have faced had the bag ruptured in his body, the high court's decision said.
"The government would have had more difficulty in proving its case without use of the laxative," Justice Ann Walsh Bradley said in writing for the majority.
Payano-Roman's attorney, Tim Provis, called the decision a defeat for human rights.
"The average person walking the streets of Milwaukee, they'd say, 'Gee, cops shouldn't be able to do that.' Now the Supreme Court says go right ahead," Provis said. "It's not good. This was one I really didn't want to lose."
The case began in 2002 when a Milwaukee County sheriff's deputy saw Payano-Roman swallow what looked like a plastic bag as he approached Payano-Roman during a drug stakeout, according to court documents.
The officers arrested Payano-Roman. An ambulance took him to a hospital, where he was put in a room and handcuffed. Medical workers decided Payano-Roman should take a laxative, Walsh Bradley wrote, and an officer gave him six doses.
The next morning hospital staff put a portable toilet in Payano-Roman's room. The officers picked through his stool and found the bag, which tests confirmed contained heroin, court records said. Payano-Roman was convicted of heroin possession.
A state appeals court ruled the laxative amounted to an unreasonable government search under the Fourth Amendment. The state Supreme Court disagreed.
The procedure was a significant intrusion on Payano-Roman's dignity, the opinion said, but waiting for him to pass the bag without it would have lengthened the time he was exposed to danger had the bag ripped inside him.
"The procedure was medically indicated to preserve his safety and health," the opinion said.
Police had a clear indication using the laxative would produce evidence of a crime, since the deputy saw Payano-Roman swallow the bag, the opinion said.
"It cannot be ignored that Payano-Roman's situation was self-created ... in an apparent attempt to conceal or dispose of evidence," the opinion said.
Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson dissented, questioning the urgent need for the liquid laxative. Six hours passed between Payano-Roman's arrest and when he drank it, more than enough time to obtain a search warrant.
"If the officers were concerned about the defendant's health, why did it take them so long to act?" Abrahamson wrote.
She also questioned whether doctors made the call to administer the laxative. The only evidence is testimony from the officers that a nurse told the typical procedure in such cases was to use a laxative, she said.
Provis said he's considering a federal appeal. State Department of Justice spokesman Mike Bauer said the Supreme Court's decision speaks for itself.
I don't know, it sounds like a crappy decision.
I, for one, am deeply saddened on this ruling. They should have waited for the bag to burst and then gotten their proof from the coroner. At least there'd be one less on the street.
What a crappy decision.
Lucky for thie convict...otherwise he'd be S.O.L.
Come on. You know they have to take care of their best clients.
It's this kinda shit that gives drug dealers a bad name!
More lunacy brought to you by the quagmired WOD.
His dignity?!?! What dignity!?!?
Bureau of Anal Thunder and Flatulence?
Don't think you can hide the evidence, we're right behind you!
Do laxatives cause harm?
At a minimum this should require a warrant signed by a judge.
"Pretty soon, they will be able to just lay you down on the street and gut you right there, grab the dope, and then call 911 to sew you back up. This is completely insane."
But the inverse of that is that a dope smuggler dies in police custody, and if they knew the guy was full of drugs and didn't do anything to get the drugs out of him and he died of an overdose, then the police department gets sued for negligence.
If they had explained the danger and OFFERED a laxative, they'd have been covered.
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