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don’t agree at all. you discard something it is fair game. what right do you have to privacy over an item you’ve discarded? none. people have tried and failed to challenge the legality of this kind of evidence. it’s been used in dozens of high profile cases
I bet it’s like how they caught the golden state killer. Run it against the database to a sample at the scene, hits on a family member. They can tell they’re related from the DNA profile but it’s clearly not the person in the system. Look up relatives, wow he lives 10 miles away, look up registration, drives an Elantra. They tail him across the country for in PA till he throws away a drink cup or something, watch him use it and toss it, it’s abandoned property. Test the sample- boom, match. Arrest warrant. >

This seems like parallel construction with extra steps, but I'm no supreme court judge. >

absolutely not - most states hold that discarded items are fair game for law enforcement. no way a challenge like you’re suggesting would ever hold up in court. >

I'm not contesting the legality of it, I'm no lawyer type. But morally it feels like it should be poison fruit. And it isn't, but that feels like a gap in privacy law, at least to me.