Arizona Supreme Court OKs disputed DNA evidence in 2015 Scottsdale murder case
Dec 17, 2024, 12:43 PM
Prosecutors can introduce disputed DNA evidence against Ian Mitcham in his Scottsdale murder case, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled. (Scottsdale Police Department File Photo)
(Scottsdale Police Department File Photo)
PHOENIX – The Arizona Supreme Court issued a ruling Tuesday that clears the way for disputed DNA evidence to be introduced in a 2015 Scottsdale murder case.
While the high court concurred that defendant Ian Mitcham’s Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure were, indeed, violated, it overturned a lower court decision to suppress DNA evidence.
That’s because the Supreme Court unanimously determined that the “inevitable discovery” exception was applicable in the case. Inevitable discovery is cited when evidence originally collected without a proper warrant is ruled admissible because its discovery by legal means was inevitable.
Mitcham was arrested in April 2018 for allegedly killing Allison Feldman in Scottsdale over three years earlier.
Feldman, 31, was found dead in her home near the Loop 101 and Pima Road in February 2015. Court documents said she died of asphyxiation with blunt force trauma.
What led up to Tuesday’s ruling in Scottsdale murder case?
According to the Arizona Supreme Court opinion, which was written by Chief Justice Ann Scott Timmer, police initiated a familial DNA investigation in 2017 using evidence found at the scene. That process identified Mitcham’s incarcerated brother as somebody closely related to the suspected killer.
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Investigators then discovered the existence of a blood sample taken from Mitcham after a January 2015 arrest for DUI.
Without acquiring a warrant to do so, police used the sample to create a DNA profile and found in April 2018 that it matched DNA found at the scene of the Scottsdale murder case.
A week later, a grand jury indicted Mitcham for first-degree murder, sexual assault and second-degree burglary related to Feldman’s death.
In 2022, Mitcham pleaded guilty on two felony counts in the DUI case.
The same year, his murder case defense team moved to suppress the warrantless DNA evidence as well as swab evidence collected when he was arrested in 2018.
The trial court agreed that Mitcham’s Fourth Amendment protections were violated and ruled the DNA evidence inadmissible, but that wasn’t the final word on the matter.
The Arizona Supreme Court determined that the Fourth Amendment violation wasn’t a reason to suppress the evidence because Mitcham’s DNA profile would have been created after his 2022 felony convictions.
“This is certain, not speculative, so it easily satisfies the preponderance standard” for the inevitable discovery exception, Tuesday’s ruling states.
