WINSTON, SHERIFF, ET AL. v. LEE
No. 83-1334
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued October 31, 1984—Decided March 20, 1985
470 U.S. 753
Stacy F. Garrett III argued the cause and filed a brief for petitioners.
Joseph Ryland Winston argued the cause and filed briefs for respondent.
Schmerber v. California, 384 U. S. 757 (1966), held, inter alia, that a State may, over the suspect‘s protest, have a physician extract blood from a person suspected of drunken driving without violation of the suspect‘s right secured by the
I
A
At approximately 1 a. m. on July 18, 1982, Ralph E. Watkinson was closing his shop for the night. As he was locking the door, he observed someone armed with a gun coming toward him from across the street. Watkinson was also armed and when he drew his gun, the other person told him to freeze. Watkinson then fired at the other person, who returned his fire. Watkinson was hit in the legs, while the other individual, who appeared to be wounded in his left side, ran from the scene. The police arrived on the scene shortly thereafter, and Watkinson was taken by ambulance
Approximately 20 minutes later, police officers responding to another call found rеspondent eight blocks from where the earlier shooting occurred. Respondent was suffering from a gunshot wound to his left chest area and told the police that he had been shot when two individuals attempted to rob him. An ambulance took respondent to the MCV Hospital. Watkinson was still in the MCV emergency room and, when respondent entered that room, said “[t]hat‘s the man that shot me.” App. 14. After an investigation, the police decided that respondent‘s story of having been himself the victim of a robbery was untrue аnd charged respondent with attempted robbery, malicious wounding, and two counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.
B
The Commonwealth shortly thereafter moved in state court for an order directing respondent to undergo surgery to remove an object thought to be a bullet lodged under his left collarbone. The court conducted several evidentiary hearings on the motion. At the first hearing, the Commonwealth‘s expert testified that the surgical procedure would take 45 minutes and would involve a threе to four percent chance of temporary nerve damage, a one percent chance of permanent nerve damage, and a one-tenth of one percent chance of death. At the second hearing, the expert testified that on reexamination of respondent, he discovered that the bullet was not “back inside close to the nerves and arteries,” id., at 52, as he originally had thought. Instead, he now believed the bullet to be located “just beneath the skin.” Id., at 57. He testified that the surgery would require an incision of only one and one-half centimeters (slightly more than one-half inch), could be performed under local anesthesia, and would result in “no danger on the basis that there‘s no general anesthesia employed.” Id., at 51.
On October 18, 1982, just before the surgery was scheduled, the surgeon ordered that X rays be taken of respondent‘s chest. The X rays revealed that the bullet was in fact lodged two and one-half to three centimeters (approximately one inch) deep in muscular tissue in respondent‘s chest, substantially deeper than had been thought when the state court granted the motion to compel surgery. The surgeon now believed that a general anesthetic would be desirable for medical reasons.
Respondent moved the state trial court for a rehearing based on the new evidence. After holding an evidentiary hearing, the state trial court denied the rehearing, and the Virginia Supreme Court affirmed. Respondent then returned to federal court, where he moved to alter or amend the judgment previously entered against him. After an evidentiary hearing, the District Court enjoined the threatened surgery. 551 F. Supp., at 253-261 (supplemental opinion).2
A divided panel of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed. 717 F. 2d 888 (1983).3 We granted certiorari, 466 U. S. 942 (1984), to consider whether a State may consistently with the
II
The
A comрelled surgical intrusion into an individual‘s body for evidence, however, implicates expectations of privacy and security of such magnitude that the intrusion may be “unreasonable” even if likely to produce evidence of a crime. In Schmerber v. California, 384 U. S. 757 (1966), we addressed a claim that the State had breached the
The authorities in Schmerber clearly had probable cause to believe that he had been driving while intoxicated, id., at 768, and to believe that a blood test would provide evidence that was exceptionally probative in confirming this belief. Id., at 770. Because the case fell within the exigent-circumstances exception to the warrant requirement, no warrant was necessary. Ibid. The search was not more intrusive than reasonably necessary to accomplish its goals. Nonetheless,
Schmerber noted that “[t]he overriding function of the
The reasonableness of surgical intrusions beneath the skin depends on a case-by-case approach, in which the individual‘s interests in privacy and security are weighed against society‘s interests in conducting the procedure. In a given case, the question whether the community‘s need for evidence outweighs the substantial privacy interests at stake is a delicate one admitting of few categorical answers. We believe that Schmerber, however, provides the appropriate framework of analysis for such cases.
Schmerber recognized that the ordinary requirements of the
Beyond these standards, Schmerber‘s inquiry considered a number of other factors in determining the “reasonableness” of the blood test. A crucial factor in analyzing the magnitude of the intrusion in Schmerber is the extent to which the procedure may threaten the safety or health of the individual. “[F]or most people [a blood test] involves virtually no risk, trauma, or pain.” Id., at 771. Moreover, all reasonable medical precautions were taken and no unusual or untested procedures were employed in Schmerber; the procedure was performed “by a physician in a hospital environment according to accepted medical practices.” Ibid. Notwithstanding the existence of probable cause, a search for evidence of a crime may be unjustifiable if it endangers the life or health of the suspect.4
Another factor is the extent of intrusion upon the individual‘s dignitary interests in personal privacy and bodily integrity. Intruding into an individual‘s living room, see Payton v. New York, 445 U. S. 573 (1980), eavesdropping upon an individual‘s telephone conversations, see Katz v. United States, 389 U. S., at 361, or forcing an individual to accompany police officers to the police station, see Dunaway v. New York, 442 U. S. 200 (1979), typically do not injure the physical person of the individual. Such intrusions do, however, damage the individual‘s sense of personal privacy and security and are thus subject to the
Weighed against these individual interests is the community‘s interest in fairly and accurately determining guilt or innocence. This interest is of course of great importance. We noted in Schmerber that a blood test is “a highly effective means of determining the degree to which a person is under the influence of alcohol.” Id., at 771. Moreover, there was “a clear indication that in fact [desired] evidence [would] be found” if the blood test were undertaken. Id., at 770.
III
Applying the Schmerber balancing test in this case, we believe that the Court of Appeals reached the correct result. The Commonwealth plainly had probable cause to conduct the search. In addition, all parties apparently agree that respondent has had a full measure of procedural protections and has been able fully to litigate the difficult medical and legal questions necessarily involved in analyzing the reasonableness of a surgiсal incision of this magnitude.6 Our inquiry therefore must focus on the extent of the intrusion on respondent‘s privacy interests and on the State‘s need for the evidence.
The threats to the health or safety of respondent posed by the surgery are the subject of sharp dispute between the parties. Before the new revelations of October 18, the District Court found that the procedure could be carried out “with virtually no risk to [respondent].” 551 F. Supp., at 252. On rehearing, however, with new evidence before it, the District Court held that “the risks previously involved have increased in magnitude even as new risks are being added.” Id., at 260.
The Court of Appeals examined the medical evidence in the record and found that respondent would suffer some risks
Both lower courts in this case believed that the proposed surgеry, which for purely medical reasons required the use of a general anesthetic,9 would be an “extensive” intrusion on respondent‘s personal privacy and bodily integrity. Ibid.
The other part of the balance concerns the Commonwealth‘s need to intrude into respondent‘s body to retrieve thе bullet. The Commonwealth claims to need the bullet to demonstrate that it was fired from Watkinson‘s gun, which in turn would show that respondent was the robber who confronted Watkinson. However, although we recognize the difficulty of making determinations in advance as to the strength of the case against respondent, petitioners’ assertions of a compelling need for the bullet are hardly persuasive. The very circumstances relied on in this case to demonstrate probable cause to believe that evidеnce will be found tend to vitiate the Commonwealth‘s need to compel respondent to undergo surgery. The Commonwealth has available substantial additional evidence that respondent was the individual who accosted Watkinson on the night of the robbery. No party in this case suggests that Watkinson‘s entirely spontaneous identification of respondent at the hospital would be inadmissible. In addition, petitioners can no doubt prove that Watkinson was found a few blocks from Watkinson‘s store shortly after the incident took place. And petitioners can certainly show that the location of the bullet (under respondent‘s left collarbone) seems to correlate with Watkinson‘s report that the robber “jerked” to the left. App. 13. The fact that the
In weighing the various factors in this case, we therefore reach thе same conclusion as the courts below. The operation sought will intrude substantially on respondent‘s protected interests. The medical risks of the operation, although apparently not extremely severe, are a subject of considerable dispute; the very uncertainty militates against finding the operation to be “reasonable.” In addition, the intrusion on respondent‘s privacy interests entailed by the operation can only be characterized as severe. On the other hand, althоugh the bullet may turn out to be useful to the Commonwealth in prosecuting respondent, the Commonwealth has failed to demonstrate a compelling need for it. We believe that in these circumstances the Commonwealth has failed to demonstrate that it would be “reasonable” under the terms of the
IV
The
Affirmed.
JUSTICE BLACKMUN and JUSTICE REHNQUIST concur in the judgment.
CHIEF JUSTICE BURGER, concurring.
I join because I read the Court‘s opinion as not preventing detention of an individual if there are reasonable grounds to believe that natural bodily functions will disclose the presence of contraband materials secreted internally.
