The boxer's DNA

Gaining legal access to bodily fluids is a tricky matter for law enforcement agencies. The FBI may have done nothing wrong when it obtained a bloody swab from Toledo boxer Martin Tucker -- evidence used to charge him in the 2009 holdup of a Monroe County credit union. But it needs to be shown that Mr. Tucker's privacy rights were not violated.

A court filing say an FBI agent "was able to obtain" a discarded swab that bore Mr. Tucker's blood the night of an April 28 boxing match. But the bureau has not said how it got the swab.

Mr. Tucker's cut man said a swab shortage that night caused him to use liquid medication to clean cuts. Swabs from eight boxers were placed in the same bucket, which is cleaned with bleach.

The suspect has a record of arrests and convictions since 1998, including violent behavior, resisting arrest, and drug trafficking, according to court records. But the question here is whether the FBI obtained the swab before or after it was discarded as trash. It needs to be resolved.

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