MD: The ultimate question is reasonableness, not whether the “least intrusive” means were used by the police

The question is not whether the “least intrusive” means were used by the police; it’s whether it was reasonable on the totality. Barnes v. State, 2014 Md. LEXIS 141 (March 5, 2014):

The courts are not to assess the lawfulness of police officers’ conduct by resort to whether the officers accomplished their goal in the “least intrusive” manner; the relevant analysis, rather, is simply whether the conduct itself was reasonable within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. See, e.g., City of Ontario v. Quon, 560 U.S. 746, 130 S. Ct. 2619, 2632, 177 L. Ed. 2d 216 (2010) (citations omitted) (stating that the Court has “repeatedly refused to declare that only the ‘least intrusive’ search practicable can be reasonable under the Fourth Amendment”); United States v. Sokolow, 490 U.S. 1, 11, 109 S. Ct. 1581, 104 L. Ed. 2d 1 (1989) (stating that the reasonableness of the officer’s decision to stop an individual does not turn on the availability of less intrusive investigatory techniques). We are not to “indulge in unrealistic second-guessing” of the detectives’ investigative strategy during what, at the time, was a swiftly developing murder investigation. See United States v. Sharpe, 470 U.S. 675, 686, 105 S. Ct. 1568, 84 L. Ed. 2d 605 (1985). Indeed, that “[a] creative judge engaged in post hoc evaluation of police conduct can almost always imagine some alternative means by which the objectives of the police might have been accomplished” is of no moment in the analysis. Id. at 686-87. We therefore do not speculate about whether the police in this case could have executed the warrant for Petitioner’s DNA and fingerprints sooner than they did; rather, we examine the record to ascertain the reasonableness of the delay.

Corporal Brown testified at the suppression hearing that no officer was available to obtain Petitioner’s DNA and fingerprints at the police station until after the police finished searching the Springdale residence at approximately 9:30 p.m. Additional evidence elicited at the suppression hearing supports the corporal’s claim. Detective Schartner and Corporal Brown testified that they were busy with other aspects of the investigation during the hours leading up to the execution of the warrant for Petitioner’s DNA and fingerprints—Detective Schartner was assisting in the search of the Springdale residence and Corporal Brown was interviewing Ms. Aidoo. Given these facts and circumstances, all of which were accepted by the suppression court, we hold that the approximately three-hour delay in executing the warrant for Petitioner’s DNA and fingerprints was not unreasonably long as to constitute a de facto arrest.