Can the Underaged Give Permission for a DNA Sample?

"What you have in this case is a warrantless search of a child's mouth," said Steve Benjamin, an adjunct professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. Police, he said, could easily have obtained a warrant or found another way to secure the sample.

"All they would have had to do was follow the kid until he blew his nose on a tissue and dropped it or dropped a soda can, and they could have the DNA," Benjamin said. "This is stupid, unimaginative and lazy police work that may have jeopardized a very strong case."