City of Windsor Heights v. Spanos

• Decision Date: 24 December 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-2160,96-2160
• Citation: 572 N.W.2d 591
• Parties: CITY OF WINDSOR HEIGHTS, Appellee, v. Christos SPANOS, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 591

572 N.W.2d 591

CITY OF WINDSOR HEIGHTS, Appellee, v. Christos SPANOS, Appellant.

No. 96-2160.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Dec. 24, 1997.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 30, 1998.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Martha E. Boesen, Assistant Attorney General, and Kim Baer, Assistant City Attorney, for appellee.

Considered by HARRIS, P.J., and NEUMAN, SNELL, ANDREASEN, and TERNUS, JJ.

TERNUS, Justice.

A jury found the appellant, defendant Christos Spanos, guilty of violating two state statutes: (1) Iowa Code section 321.166(7) (1995), requiring the proper display of registration stickers on vehicle license plates; and (2) Iowa Code section 719.1, prohibiting interference with official acts of a peace officer. The associate district court judge sentenced Spanos on both offenses and the district court affirmed. We granted the defendant's application for discretionary review. On appeal, we conclude the city attorney for the City of Windsor Heights had de facto authority to prosecute the improper-display-of-registration-stickers charge, but not the interference-with-official-acts charge. Therefore, we affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

On March 1, 1996, Windsor Heights police officer Jason Bryan witnessed Spanos operating a motor vehicle without proper registration stickers on his license plates. At the time, the defendant's car was in the northbound lane of 63rd Street, which is within the city limits of Des Moines. Officer Bryan stopped the Spanos vehicle after the defendant had turned onto Hickman Road, also in Des Moines.

Officer Bryan approached the defendant's car and questioned Spanos concerning his driver's license and car registration. During the course of this questioning, Spanos attempted to drive away. Officer Bryan told Spanos several times to stop and get out of his car. When Spanos did not comply, the officer called for assistance.

Upon the arrival of additional police officers, Spanos got out of his vehicle, but refused to be seated in a patrol car, as he was requested to do. During the officers' attempt to handcuff Spanos, he resisted by flailing and kicking. Officer Bryan arrested Spanos and charged him with the violation of two Windsor Heights' ordinances, one for interference with official acts and the other for improper display of registration stickers, both simple misdemeanors.

The defendant demanded a jury trial. On the day set for trial and over the defendant's objections, the trial court allowed the city attorney to amend the charges to allege violations of state laws because the alleged violations had occurred in Des Moines, not Windsor Heights. The case proceeded to trial, resulting in guilty verdicts on both charges. After an unsuccessful appeal to the district court, this court granted the defendant's application for discretionary review.

On appeal, Spanos challenges both convictions on the basis the city had no authority to prosecute the amended charges. He also claims error in the instructions on the interference-with-official-acts charge and the procedures invoked for the trial of that charge. We conclude the city had no authority to prosecute the defendant on the state charge of interference with official acts, but did have de facto authority to prosecute the charge for improper display of registration stickers. This ruling makes it unnecessary to consider the two additional errors claimed with respect to the interference-with-official-acts charge.

II. Authority of City Attorney.

When the city attorney requested permission to amend the charges to allege state law violations, the defendant's objection to the amendment was based, in part, on the city attorney's lack of authority to prosecute such violations. Notwithstanding this objection, the trial court allowed the amendment pursuant to Iowa Rule of Criminal Procedure 4(8).

We review the trial court's allowance of the City's amendment for an abuse of discretion. See State v. Maghee, 573 N.W.2d 1, 5 (Iowa 1997). The party claiming an abuse of discretion must show "that the court exercised [its] discretion on grounds or for reasons clearly untenable or to an extent clearly unreasonable." Id. "An abuse of discretion is synonymous with unreasonableness." Frank v. Iowa Dep't of Transp., 386 N.W.2d 86, 87 (Iowa 1986). A decision is unreasonable where it is not based on substantial evidence, see id., or is based on an erroneous application of the law. See 5 Am.Jur.2d Appellate Review § 695, at 365 (1995).

A. De jure authority. The county attorney is vested with authority to prosecute persons charged with violating a state law. See Iowa Code § 331.756(1). ¹ The city claims, however, that Polk County and the City of Windsor Heights have an agreement allowing the city to prosecute traffic violations and simple misdemeanor violations occurring on 63rd Street. (Both Windsor Heights and Des Moines are located in Polk County.) The city relies on the authority of Iowa Code chapter 28E, which permits local governments "to cooperate in ... ways of mutual advantage." Iowa Code § 28E.1. Section 28E.12 specifically allows a political subdivision of the state to "contract with [another political subdivision] to perform any governmental service, activity, or undertaking which [either of the political subdivisions] is authorized by law to perform." This agreement must "be authorized by the governing body of each party to the contract," id. § 28E.12, and be "filed with the secretary of state and recorded with the county recorder," id. § 28E.8.

The city offered a letter from the Polk County Attorney, John Sarcone, stating:

When I took over as County Attorney in 1991, it was my understanding that a 28E agreement was in existence between this office and Windsor Heights regarding these prosecutions. Since that time we have continued to operate under that agreement which has been beneficial to this office as well as the City of Windsor Heights. In particular, it is my understanding that pursuant to the agreement Windsor Heights prosecutes violations, both traffic and simple misdemeanors, which occur on 63rd Street. We believe the agreement has worked well and see no reason to change the manner in which these cases are prosecuted or who prosecutes them....

The city was unable to produce a copy of the 28E agreement and had no other evidence that such an agreement had been formally approved by the governing bodies of the city and the county or had been filed as required by chapter 28E.

We conclude there is not substantial evidence to support a finding that the statutory prerequisites for the creation of a valid 28E agreement were met. Although the county attorney stated he thought the city and county had entered into a 28E agreement, he offered no understanding on whether the agreement had been approved and filed as required by chapter 28E. Moreover, the city attorney stated the city and the county had been operating under such an agreement for four or five years; yet she candidly admitted they had checked the secretary of state's records for the last five years and had not found a copy of the agreement. Therefore, the city's assertion it had de jure authority to prosecute the state charges against Spanos cannot provide a tenable reason to support the trial court's exercise of discretion.

B. De facto authority. The city claims that even if it failed to prove the agreement between the city and county met the requirements of chapter 28E, the city still had authority to prosecute the offenses in question under the doctrine of officers de facto. In the case of a de facto officer, authority may be found in the absence of appointment or election, if the officer "acted as such under such circumstances of reputation or acquiescence as are calculated to induce people, without inquiry, to submit to or invoke his action in the supposition that he is in fact the officer he assumes to be." Buck v. Hawley & Hoops, 129 Iowa 406, 409, 105 N.W. 688, 689 (1906). We have stated the rationale for this theory: " '[J]ustice and necessity require that [the officer's] acts, done within the scope of official authority and duty, be sustained, to the end that the rights and interests of third person[s] be protected and preserved.' " State v. Driscoll, 455 N.W.2d 916, 917 (Iowa 1990) (quoting Buck, 129 Iowa at 409, 105 N.W. at 689). The de facto officer theory applies where a qualified official, by technical infirmity, does not validly hold the official position. See State v. Palmer, 554 N.W.2d 859, 865-66 (Iowa 1996).

The city claims that its attorney has the de facto authority to prosecute state charges. It argues the city and county's possible failure to follow the procedures required by chapter 28E is an infirmity that does not undermine the purpose of the statute. ² Under the circumstances of this case, we agree. The city and...