State Of Iowa v. Vance

• Decision Date: 19 November 2010
• Docket Number: No. 08-1762.,08-1762.
• Citation: 790 N.W.2d 775
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Robert Joseph VANCE, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

790 N.W.2d 775

STATE of Iowa, Appellee,

v.Robert Joseph VANCE, Appellant.

No. 08-1762.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Nov. 19, 2010.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED.

Mark C. Smith, State Appellate Defender, and Thomas J. Gaul, Assistant Appellate Defender, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Darrel L. Mullins, Assistant Attorney General, Thomas J. Ferguson, County Attorney, and Brad P. Walz, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.

WIGGINS, Justice.

The defendant, Robert Joseph Vance, appeals his convictions for possession of precursor products with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine and driving while license barred. The court of appeals affirmed his convictions and preserved his ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim for possible postconviction relief proceedings. The defendant applied for further review, which we granted. In our review, we find there was reasonable suspicion to initiate an investigatory stop of the vehicle the defendant was driving and substantial evidence supports his conviction for possession of a precursor product with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine. We also find we cannot decide the defendant's ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim on direct appeal and preserve this claim for possible postconviction relief proceedings. Accordingly, we affirm the decision of the court of appeals and the judgment of the district court.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

At approximately 2:20 a.m. on July 11, 2008, Waterloo police officer Nicholas Berry was patrolling the South View Estates area of Waterloo in a marked patrol car. While patrolling the area, Berry passed an oddly parked red Pontiac Grand Prix on Bristol Road. He ran the license plate number of the vehicle on his in-car computer and discovered the registered owner of the vehicle was a female named Athena Smith. Berry then verified the status of Smith's driver's license and learned her license was suspended.

After doing this, Berry remembered he had stopped the vehicle on December 13, 2007. On that occasion, Smith was operating the vehicle, and following a search of the vehicle, methamphetamine was found. He also remembered witnessing another officer stop the same vehicle on June 2, 2008. The officer later informed him that Smith had been operating the vehicle and a male named Robert Vance was a passenger. Berry also learned the State charged Smith with driving while license suspended and possession of methamphetamine in relation to the later stop.

Berry left the area and parked his patrol car on Highway 218, north of the vehicle's location. Approximately fifteen minutes later, he observed the vehicle turn northbound on Highway 218 and drive past him. Berry was unable to see who was operating the vehicle or the number of its occupants. He decided to follow the vehicle and caught up to it as it was heading northbound. Just as Berry caught up with the vehicle, it began to exit onto Interstate 380 towards Evansdale. When the vehicle began to exit, Berry initiated a traffic stop, and the vehicle slowed to a stop on the off-ramp of Highway 218. Berry admitted the driver of the vehicle was not driving in a suspicious manner at the time he initiated the stop. When he initiated the stop, he did not know who was driving the vehicle.

As Berry exited his patrol car and approached the vehicle, he was able to observe for the first time that the vehicle's only occupant was a male driver. Berry recognized the driver but could not recall his name. He made contact with the driver and requested a driver's license and proof of insurance. The driver told Berry he did not have a driver's license and handed him an Iowa nondriver's identification card, identifying himself as Robert Joseph Vance. Vance also said he did not know if there was an insurance card in the vehicle because he did not own it. At this point, Berry remembered the connection between Vance and Smith. Specifically, Berry remembered Vance was a passenger in Smith's vehicle when he observed another officer stop the vehicle on June 2. He also remembered Vance did not have a valid driver's license at that time.

Berry returned to his patrol car with Vance's identification card and discovered Vance's driver's license status was barred. He returned to the vehicle, informed Vance his license was invalid, and asked him to step out of the vehicle and walk to the front of his patrol car. Next, he asked Vance if he had anything illegal in his pockets. Vance removed an insulin needle, a wooden cooking spoon, and a metal spoon with burn marks from his pockets. There was a white, powdery substance on both the wood and metal spoons. Vance began to appear nervous, and Berry placed him in the back of his patrol car.

Subsequently, Berry returned to the vehicle and, looking through the front driver's side window, observed what appeared to be freshly manufactured methamphetamine in a cellophane wrapper. As he reached into the vehicle to remove the wrapper, he immediately noticed a strong chemical odor. Berry continued to inspect the vehicle visually until another officer arrived on the scene, at which point he handcuffed Vance and read the Miranda warning. While handcuffing Vance, Berry noticed he had a cellular phone earpiece in his ear and discovered his cellular phone had been on during the duration of the stop. Immediately after Vance was initially placed in the patrol car, the car's audio equipment captured Vance saying, “He is going to find the shit,” to someone on the phone.

The Tri-County Drug Task Force was contacted, and Berry was asked to look in the trunk of the vehicle for a tank that could hold anhydrous ammonia. Berry opened the trunk and observed an air-compressor tank that likely contained anhydrous ammonia. Shortly thereafter, two members of the task force arrived and took over the search of the vehicle. Throughout the passenger compartment and trunk of the vehicle the officers discovered numerous products associated with the manufacture of methamphetamine, including: a plastic pitcher with white residue, muriatic acid, saw blades, plastic tubing placed through a cap, a coffee grinder with reddish/white residue, coffee filters, a toothbrush, pliers and vice grip tools, stripped lithium batteries, canisters of Coleman fuel, orange tubing, insulin syringes, a large air-compressor tank filled with anhydrous ammonia, and a recent receipt for cold medicine that contained pseudoephedrine. The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation later confirmed the wrapper, the metal spoon with burn marks and white residue, and the plastic pitcher with white residue all contained methamphetamine.

The State charged Vance with possession of ephedrine and/or pseudoephedrine, lithium, and anhydrous ammonia with the intent to manufacture a controlled substance, as well as driving while license barred. The State also sought to enhance Vance's sentencing pursuant to Iowa Code sections 124.411, 902.8, and 902.9 (2007) due to his status as a second and habitual offender.

Vance filed a motion to suppress evidence, claiming the State illegally seized evidence from the vehicle because Berry did not have reasonable suspicion to stop the vehicle he was operating. The district court overruled the motion, finding under the totality of the circumstances it was reasonable for Berry to infer that Smith-the registered owner whom Berry knew had a suspended license-was operating the vehicle. Accordingly, the case proceeded to trial.

The jury returned a verdict finding Vance guilty of possession of ephedrine and/or pseudoephedrine and possession of anhydrous ammonia with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine as well as driving while license barred. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty on the charge of possession of lithium with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine. Vance appealed, arguing the district court erred in overruling his motion to suppress evidence, there was insufficient evidence for his conviction of possession of pseudoephedrine with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine, and his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge the search of the vehicle. We transferred the case to the court of appeals. The court of appeals affirmed Vance's convictions and preserved his ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim for possible postconviction relief proceedings. Vance sought further review, which we granted.

II. Issues.

In this appeal, Vance raises three issues. First, we must determine whether there was reasonable suspicion to stop the vehicle Vance was driving. Next, we must decide whether substantial evidence supports Vance's conviction for possession of pseudoephedrine with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine. Finally, we must consider whether Vance's trial counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge the search of the vehicle.

III. Legality of the Investigatory Stop.

A. Scope of Review. Vance claims the investigatory stop of the vehicle he was operating violated his Fourth Amendment right to be free from “unreasonable searches and seizures.” U.S. Const. amend. IV. We review constitutional issues de novo. State v. Freeman, 705 N.W.2d 293, 297 (Iowa 2005). In the district court and on appeal, Vance's counsel failed to raise the legality of the stop under the Iowa Constitution. See State v. Effler, 769 N.W.2d 880, 894-95 (Iowa 2009) (Appel, J., concurring) (discussing why counsel should raise and brief an independent analysis of a constitutional issue under the Iowa Constitution), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 130 S.Ct. 1024, 175 L.Ed.2d 627 (2009). For this reason, we will limit our discussion regarding the legality of the stop to the Fourth Amendment.

We independently evaluate the totality of the circumstances found in the record, including the evidence introduced at both the suppression hearing and at trial. State v. Bogan, 774 N.W.2d 676, 679-80 (Iowa 2009). We give deference to the district court's findings of fact due to its ability to...