Atwood v. Vilsack

• Citation: 725 N.W.2d 641
• Decision Date: 29 December 2006
• Docket Number: No. 05-0485.,05-0485.
• Parties: Wayne ATWOOD, Arthur Jennings, Daniel Bellman, and John Carmody, on behalf of themselves and all present and future Iowa Code Chapter 229A pretrial detainees, and Loren G. Huss, Jr., John Henry Nachtigall, Timothy Gusman and Lanny Taute, on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. The Honorable Thomas J. VILSACK, et al., Defendants.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 641

725 N.W.2d 641

Wayne ATWOOD, Arthur Jennings, Daniel Bellman, and John Carmody, on behalf of themselves and all present and future Iowa Code Chapter 229A pretrial detainees, and Loren G. Huss, Jr., John Henry Nachtigall, Timothy Gusman and Lanny Taute, on behalf of themselves and those similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. The Honorable Thomas J. VILSACK, et al., Defendants.

No. 05-0485.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

December 29, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Randall C. Wilson of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Des Moines, and Jon M. Kinnamon of Kinnamon, Kinnamon, Russo, Meyer & Keegan, Cedar Rapids, for plaintiffs.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Gordon E. Allen, Deputy Attorney General, and Mark Hunacek, Assistant Attorney General, for defendants.

HECHT, Justice.

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa has certified to us the following question: Are pre-trial detainees being held pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 229A (2005) entitled to bail under either the common law or the Iowa Constitution?

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

The petitioners are a certified class consisting of "`[a]ll present and future pretrial detainees held by the Iowa Department of Corrections, awaiting hearing on their Iowa Code [c]hapter 229A petition, or who were committed pursuant to Iowa Code [c]hapter 229A.'" Atwood v. Vilsack, 338 F.Supp.2d 985, 990 (S.D.Iowa 2004). They filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa against the State of Iowa's departments and officials responsible for implementing the pre-trial detention provisions of Iowa Code chapter 229A, the Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) Act. Id. at 990-91. The petitioners claimed: (1) the State's failure to initiate SVP proceedings until immediately prior to the discharge of criminal sentences violated their federal right to a speedy trial and right to be free from imposition of double jeopardy, (2) pre-trial detention was in contravention of chapter 229A, (3) pre-trial detention violated their federal and state due process rights to bail, (4) pre-trial detention violated their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and (5) the conditions of their detention violated their federal due process rights. Id. at 993-1008. The court certified the question of state law to us. Id. at 1008.

Petitioners urge us to hold the common law entitles detainees to bail during the pre-trial stage of proceedings brought under chapter 229A. They also assert numerous provisions of the Iowa Constitution entitle them to bail during that stage: article 1, section 12 (bail guarantee clause); article 1, section 17 (proscribing excessive bail); article 1, section 9 (due process of law); article 1, section 10 (rights of persons accused); article 1, section 21 (banning bills of attainder); article 1, section 8 (protecting personal security); article 1, section 1 (inalienable rights clause); and article 1, section 25 (unenumerated rights clause). For the reasons that follow, we conclude persons detained before trial pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 229A are not entitled to bail under either the common law or under these provisions of the Iowa Constitution.

II. Discussion.

A. Common Law Bail Claim.

We have previously acknowledged that although not expressly declared by our statutes or constitution to be part of Iowa law, "the common law has always been . . . in force in Iowa." Iowa Civil Liberties Union v. Critelli, 244 N.W.2d 564, 568 (Iowa 1976). The petitioners claim a common law right to bail in the interim between the Iowa district court's finding of probable cause to believe they are sexually violent predators¹ and the subsequent trials to determine whether they are, in fact, sexually violent predators. They cite Blackstone for the proposition that at common law all defendants in civil cases were bailable. See William Blackstone, 4 Commentaries 294 (1769). Because we are not persuaded, however, that the common law authorized civil commitment of sexually violent predators for long-term care and treatment, any reference in Blackstone's Commentaries to the availability of bail in all civil cases does not suggest a right to bail in the type of case now before us.

Furthermore, any common law claim of entitlement to pre-trial bail in a civil case of this type could not have survived our legislature's enactment of chapter 229A. The common law may be repealed by implication in a statute that plainly expresses the legislature's intent to do so. Critelli, 244 N.W.2d at 568; Wilson v. Iowa City, 165 N.W.2d 813, 822 (Iowa 1969). Our consideration of whether the legislature intended to prohibit bail at the pre-trial stage in SVP cases begins with the words of the statute.

The subject of bail is expressly addressed in only one section of the statute. Section 229A.5C(1) provides that persons who commit a public offense while detained pursuant to section 229A.5 or while subject to an order of civil commitment shall not be eligible for bail pursuant to section 811.1.² The petitioners urge us to interpret section 229A.5C(1) as an expression of the legislature's intent that detainees who have not committed a subsequent offense while detained or committed should be entitled to bail. We must reject the petitioners' suggested interpretation of the statute, however, because we conclude section 229A.5C(1) has no application to this case. That section is intended to preclude access to bail in the criminal case filed as a consequence of a new offense committed by a person detained or subject to a civil commitment order. The petitioners in this case claim entitlement to bail in their civil SVP proceedings. See In re Bradford, 712 N.W.2d 144, 146-47 (Iowa 2006) (holding that the proceedings under the SVP Act are civil); In re Det. of Garren, 620 N.W.2d 275, 283-86 (Iowa 2000) (same).

Although chapter 229A does not expressly prohibit bail at the pre-trial stage in SVP cases, neither does it expressly authorize bail in such cases. Nonetheless, we discern from the way in which chapter 229A narrowly circumscribes release of detainees the legislature's clear intention to deny bail at the pre-trial stage in SVP proceedings. The only instance in which the release of a detainee is authorized before commitment to a secure facility is when, after a hearing, the district court does not find probable cause to believe the detainee is a SVP.³ In that event, the detainee is not held over for trial and has no need for bail.

The only other detainees who may be released in SVP cases are those who qualify for discharge pursuant to section 229A.5B(1), which in turn authorizes the discharge of detainees under sections 229A.8 or 229A.10. See Iowa Code § 229A.5B(1). Section 229A.5B(1) provides:

A person who is detained pursuant to section 229A.5 or is subject to an order of civil commitment under this chapter shall remain in custody unless released by court order or discharged under section 229A.8 or 229A.10. A person who has been placed in a transitional release program or who is under release with or without supervision is considered to be in custody.

(Emphasis added.) Petitioners suggest that this section signals an intent that bail is available to detainees at the pre-trial stage. We disagree. Discharge under sections 229A.8 or 229A.10 may be achieved only after a trial has occurred, the detainee has been found beyond a reasonable doubt to be a SVP, and commitment to the department of human services for control, care and treatment has been ordered.

Once committed, "a rebuttable presumption exists that the commitment should continue." Id. § 229A.8(1). Discharge of a detainee committed to a secure facility may be ordered under section 229A.8 if the detainee's condition is subsequently shown to be suitable for discharge.⁴ Similarly, a detainee committed to a secure facility may be discharged pursuant to section 229A.10 if it is shown that the person no longer suffers from a mental abnormality making it likely that the person will engage in predatory acts constituting sexually violent offenses.⁵ Discharge under sections 229A.8 or 229A.10 is a remedy available to a detainee only after (1) commitment has been ordered, and (2) the detainee's mental condition has improved so that transfer to a transitional program, release with or without conditions, or discharge is appropriate. In summary, it is clear that the petitioners have no access to bail under chapter 229A because (1) the district court found probable cause to believe they are sexually violent predators, and (2) the remedies of release and discharge are not available at the pre-trial stage in the interim between a finding of probable cause and trial of the claim that petitioners are SVPs.

Yet another feature of chapter 229A compels us to conclude the legislature intended to preclude bail at the pre-trial stage. Section 229A.7(7) provides in relevant part: "Upon a mistrial, the court shall direct that the respondent be held at an appropriate secure facility until another trial is conducted." This provision unmistakably discloses by implication the legislature's intent that detention shall continue after the district court has made a finding of probable cause until the question of whether the detainee is in fact a SVP has been adjudicated. Accordingly, we conclude the legislature clearly intended chapter 229A to preclude bail for detainees at the pre-trial stage. Consequently, any claim to bail based upon common law that antedated the adoption of chapter 229A is without merit.

Finally, our conclusion that the legislature intended to deny bail to detainees at the pre-trial stage of SVP cases is strongly influenced by the legislative findings set out in section 229A.1. The statute was adopted "to protect the public, to respect the needs of the victims of sexually violent offenses, and to encourage full, meaningful participation of sexually violent predators in treatment programs."...