State, Dept. of Public Safety v. Woodhall, 85-524

• Decision Date: 13 November 1985
• Docket Number: No. 85-524,85-524
• Citation: 376 N.W.2d 897
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Appellant, v. Charles B. WOODHALL, Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 897

376 N.W.2d 897

STATE of Iowa, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Appellant, v. Charles B. WOODHALL, Appellee.

No. 85-524.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Nov. 13, 1985.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., and Gary L. Hayward, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellant.

Robert A. Gottschald, Indianola, for appellee.

Considered by REYNOLDSON, C.J., and UHLENHOPP, McCORMICK, SCHULTZ, and WOLLE, JJ.

WOLLE, Justice.

Defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of theft in the third degree, served a term of probation in accordance with a deferred judgment, and was discharged from probation. Several weeks later the district court entered an order in the criminal case directing the Iowa Department of Public Safety (department) to destroy its records containing defendant's fingerprints. The department unsuccessfully challenged that order on the ground that the district court had no jurisdiction in the criminal case to decide what records the department should retain in its files. We reverse, concluding that the criminal court was without jurisdiction to enter that order.

There is no real disagreement about the factual background or what proceedings took place in this criminal case. Defendant satisfactorily completed his one-year period of probation and was discharged by an order entered on August 14, 1984. More than two months later, defendant orally requested that the court enter an order in the criminal case directing the department and other law enforcement agencies to destroy their records containing defendant's fingerprints. The court entered such an order, then refused the department's request to set it aside for lack of jurisdiction. The criminal court relied for its authority on the second sentence of Iowa Code section 690.2 (1983); the entire statutory provision reads:

It shall be the duty of the sheriff of every county, and the chief of police of each city regardless of the form of government thereof and having a population of ten thousand or over, to take the fingerprints of all persons held either for investigation, for the commission of a felony, as a fugitive from justice, or for bootlegging, the maintenance of an intoxicating liquor nuisance, manufacturing intoxicating liquor, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or for illegal transportation of intoxicating liquor, and to take the fingerprints of all unidentified dead bodies in their respective jurisdictions, and to forward such fingerprint records on such forms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the commissioner of public safety, within forty-eight hours after the same are taken, to the bureau of criminal investigation. If the fingerprints of any person are taken under the provisions hereof whose fingerprints are not already on file, and said person is not convicted of any offense, then said fingerprint records shall be destroyed by any officer having them. In addition to the fingerprints as herein provided any such officer may also take the palm prints of any such person.

(Emphasis added.) Although the department has challenged the district court's order on several grounds, we find one jurisdictional issue determinative of this appeal. The essence of the order here challenged was that the department had acted improperly in retaining defendant's fingerprint records in its files. Exclusive jurisdiction over that subject matter--agency action involving recordkeeping responsibilities--is vested in judicial review proceedings pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 17A, the Iowa Administrative Procedure Act. The criminal court had no jurisdiction to address and decide the propriety of that agency action.

For an order to be valid, the court must have the authority to hear cases of the general class to which the proceedings in question belong. Rerat Law Firm v. Iowa District Court, 375 N.W.2d 226, 230 (Iowa 1985); In re Estate of Dull, 303 N.W.2d 402, 406 (Iowa 1981). While a criminal court has jurisdiction over proceedings commenced by the filing of a trial information or indictment charging a person with a criminal violation, that jurisdiction does not extend to judicial review of agency action. While the criminal court has original jurisdiction, the court reviewing agency action exercises appellate jurisdiction only and is without original authority to declare the rights of parties or the applicability of any statute or rule. Iowans for Tax Relief v. Campaign Finance Disclosure Commission, 331 N.W.2d 862, 863 (Iowa 1983); Public Employment Relations Board v. Stohr, 279 N.W.2d 286, 290 (Iowa 1979). What we said recently in distinguishing chapter 17A proceedings from other civil actions is equally pertinent in the context of this criminal case:

Judicial review proceedings are fundamentally different from original actions commenced in the district court. Judicial review proceedings have a different jurisdictional base, proceed in a different manner toward disposition, and provide only those types of relief to the successful petitioner which chapter 17A...