Once you are arrested on suspicion of criminal activity and kept in lock up, the police have a constitutional right to engage in certain authorized investigation procedures to elicit more facts to build your criminal case. Although you have to submit to post-arrest investigation, your Sugar Land criminal attorney should check to make sure that it involved authorized procedures.
Authorized Post-Arrest Procedures
The police can only engage in post-arrest investigations that are authorized under the law, including:
- Placing you in a line-up
- Getting consent to search your properties or possessions
- Interrogation
- Taking fingerprints and handwriting samples
The police may also get a warrant or court order to get DNA samples by obtaining a clip of your hair, collecting saliva, or drawing blood.
No Right to Refuse
Generally speaking, the Constitution does not provide you with any rights to legally refuse any authorized post-arrest investigation procedures. The only exceptions are your right to interrogation and search.
Additionally, generally law enforcement will not force you to be in a line-up or submit to a blood test. However, your Sugar Land criminal attorney will advise you that a refusal to submit to these procedures can be used during your trial as evidence of consciousness of guilt. Moreover, a refusal to a court order to submit to certain testing may also result in incarceration and contempt of court.
Contact Us
For more information about law enforcement's right to legally engage in post-arrest investigation, call Sugar Land criminal attorney John Venza at 281-971-5660.