Miles Cruz (Photo source: Wisconsin Department of Corrections)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A Brown County judge properly allowed DNA evidence to be used against Miles Cruz in his trial for attacking a woman along a De Pere trial, the state argued in the latest brief in his appeal.
Cruz, now 19, pleaded no contest to four counts in connection with the Oct. 5, 2021, attack: sexual assault, kidnapping, strangulation and suffocation, and recklessly endangering safety. A count of attempted homicide was dismissed as part of a plea deal. He was sentenced to 42 years, six months in prison.
As part of the investigation, police obtained a DNA sample from mouth and finger swabs. Before he pleaded out, his lawyers argued Cruz didn’t give consent, but Judge Tammy Jo Hock rejected the motion. His attorneys filed an appeal in December, arguing that decision violated Cruz’s Fourth Amendment rights.
In a 21-page reply, filed Friday, Assistant Attorney General Christine Remington countered those arguments.
“Here, there was no violation of Cruz’s Fourth Amendment rights. Cruz gave voluntary consent to the swabs of his fingers and fingernails. Additionally, that search was authorized based on exigent circumstances because of the potential destruction of evidence. Likewise, Cruz gave voluntary consent to the buccal swab, and that evidence would have been inevitably discovered. The circuit court properly denied Cruz’s suppression motion. This Court should affirm,” she wrote.
Cruz’s attorneys have until Feb. 26 to reply to the state’s brief.
Oral arguments are not anticipated, and it will be several months before the appeals court issues a ruling.
Cruz is currently housed at the Dodge Correctional Institution, state records show.
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