Word: schmerber
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...obviously determined to defend the court's earlier admonitions to police, urging them to make more use of scientific crime-detection equipment. For that was just what a Los Angeles policeman was doing after a 1964 auto accident, when he caught a whiff of booze on Armando Schmerber's breath and ordered a doc tor to give Schmerber a blood test, even though the defendant objected on the advice of his attorney...
Ample Reason. But what about Schmerber's contention that the whole procedure abridged his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and his Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure? The Fifth, answered Brennan, only prohibits "the use of physical or moral compulsion to extort communications" from a person. It does not exclude the "body as evidence when it may be material." Lie-detector tests, Brennan went on, might very well be improper because they involve questioning and verbal testimony...
| 1 |