The Telltale Bullets

Ordinarily, a man with a bullet embedded in his leg and another in an arm would be happy to have a doctor remove them free of charge. But for three months, James Lee Crowder, 18, has resisted all attempts to have the slugs removed. He claims that the surgery would violate his constitutional rights. According to police in Washington, D.C., Crowder has good reason to resist: the bullets might convict him of felony murder.

Crowder and a young woman allegedly tried to rob a Washington dentist in his office last December. When Crowder pointed a toy pistol, police say, Dr. James Bowman, 66, pulled a .32-cal. revolver. The two men struggled; the dentist's gun went off four times. Bowman was found dead with two bullets in his chest and stomach. After an investigation, police arrested Sandra Toomer, the alleged accomplice, and charged her with murder. She, in turn, fingered "Jimmie." As the two were fleeing from Bowman's office, she told police, her companion said to her, "I'm shot, but I think I killed him." Police picked up Crowder, bandaged and limping, and took him to the D.C. General Hospital where they hoped that doctors would immediately remove the two bullets, enabling them to strengthen their case by matching those bullets with others fired from the dentist's pistol. But Crowder had other thoughts.

No Pimple. In an affidavit, Crowder said, "To order the doctor to cut into my body would invade my right to privacy and violate due process of law." At a hearing before U.S. District Judge Edward Curran, Attorney Robert S. Bennett urged the judge to deny police a search warrant. "They're asking you to order an operation, cutting into a man's body," he said. "This is not popping a pimple on a man's head."

Judge Curran was unpersuaded by either the medical or the constitutional arguments. He ordered an operation to remove one bullet lodged just below the surface of Crowder's right forearm "with due regard given to the health and preservation of life of James Crowder." Early last month, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld Curran's ruling. Bennett is aghast: "If the court can rule that bullets can be taken out against a defendant's wishes, where does it all stop?" For Crowder, it may stop when doctors at D.C. General Hospital remove the telltale bullet.

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