State v. Notti

Summary

The Supreme Court of Montana affirmed the denial of Tony Notti's motion to dismiss a deliberate homicide charge. The court held that Notti waived a reasonable expectation of privacy in a DNA profile created from a blood sample he voluntarily provided during an unrelated investigation, and that comparing the profile with forensic databases did not constitute a subsequent search or seizure. The court also concluded that, even if the profile had been improperly stored, the match would have been inevitably discovered after Notti's felony conviction.

Holdings

1. Notti waived any reasonable expectation of privacy in the DNA profile created from his blood sample when he voluntarily consented to the blood draw. The State's later comparison of the numerical DNA profile with profiles in its forensic-unknown database was not a subsequent search or seizure of Notti's person and did not violate his constitutional right to privacy.
2. The court declined to consider whether Notti's profile had actually been improperly placed in the State DNA Identification Index because the record did not establish that this occurred. In any event, the evidence was admissible under the inevitable-discovery doctrine because Notti's felony conviction would have required inclusion of his DNA profile in the index, which would have led to the same match.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the State violated Notti's right to privacy under Article II, Section 10 of the Montana Constitution by using a DNA profile lawfully created from a blood sample obtained with his consent in an unrelated criminal investigation.
2. Whether the evidence was admissible under the inevitable-discovery doctrine even if the State's storage or use of Notti's DNA profile had been improper.

Disposition

affirmed