State v. Allensworth

• Decision Date: 09 May 2008
• Docket Number: No. 06-1507.,06-1507.
• Citation: 748 N.W.2d 789
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellant, v. Allen Robert ALLENSWORTH, Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

748 N.W.2d 789

STATE of Iowa, Appellant, v. Allen Robert ALLENSWORTH, Appellee.

No. 06-1507.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

May 9, 2008.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Elisabeth S. Reynoldson and Mary E. Tabor, Assistant Attorneys General, John P. Sarcone, County Attorney, and Stephanie Cox, Assistant County Attorney, for appellant.

Mark C. Smith, State Appellate Defender, and Stephan J. Japuntich, Assistant State Appellate Defender, for appellee.

HECHT, Justice.

We granted the State's application for discretionary review of the district court's order suppressing methamphetamine seized by law enforcement officers from a motor vehicle. We conclude the warrantless search of the steering column of the vehicle was supported by probable cause, and was therefore permissible under the automobile exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement. Accordingly, we reverse the district court's order.

I. Factual and Procedural Background.

A Polk County sheriff's deputy stopped a vehicle for speeding on Euclid Avenue in Des Moines. As the deputy approached the vehicle, Allen Allensworth rolled down the driver's window, stated his name, and disclosed that there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest. The deputy noticed Allensworth had a large snake draped around his neck. A warrant check confirmed Allensworth had an outstanding warrant for a parole violation. The deputy arrested Allensworth, contacted Allensworth's friend to come to the scene and retrieve the snake, and called a towing company to transport the vehicle from the scene of the arrest. Due to the presence of the snake and the amount of traffic at the intersection where the stop occurred, the deputy decided to defer an inventory of the contents of the vehicle until after it was moved to the location where it was to be impounded.¹

After transporting Allensworth to the jail for booking, but before he went to the impound lot to complete an inventory search of the vehicle, the deputy received an anonymous phone call reporting there were drugs in Allensworth's car. Approximately two hours after the vehicle was towed and impounded, the deputy and another officer began an inventory of the vehicle's contents. The deputy located a small bag of marijuana in the center console. Knowing the steering column was "a known place where people hide drugs," an officer removed the horn button on the steering column and discovered a small plastic bag containing approximately twenty-five grams of methamphetamine.

Allensworth was charged with possession with intent to deliver more than five grams of methamphetamine, in violation of Iowa Code section 124.401(1)(b)(7) (2005), and failure to possess a drug tax stamp, in violation of Iowa Code section 453B.12. He filed a pro se motion to suppress the marijuana and methamphetamine, claiming they were seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution.² Following a hearing, the district court concluded the seizure of the vehicle, the inventory search of the console, and the resulting seizure of the marijuana did not violate Allensworth's Fourth Amendment rights. The court suppressed the methamphetamine, however, on the ground that the search of the steering column exceeded the proper scope of an inventory search.³

The State filed a motion requesting the district court reconsider its ruling, advancing the automobile exception to the warrant requirement as an alternative ground for upholding the search of the vehicle and seizure of the methamphetamine. The district court denied the motion, concluding the automobile exception applies only if probable cause for the search and exigent circumstances exist at the scene of the stop. The district court reasoned that the automobile exception did not apply under the circumstances of this case because probable cause for a warrantless search extending beyond an inventory search did not exist at the scene of the stop in this case, but arose only later after the vehicle was impounded when marijuana was discovered in the course of the inventory search. We granted discretionary review of the district court's suppression order.

II. Scope of Review.

We review Fourth Amendment claims de novo. State v. Lam, 391 N.W.2d 245, 248 (Iowa 1986).

III. Discussion.

The State confines its argument on appeal to the validity of the search of the steering column under the so-called "automobile exception" to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement. The State contends the district court erred in holding the automobile exception requires special exigency at the time the probable cause arises. Allensworth asserts the district court correctly suppressed the methamphetamine because the officers who conducted the search of the vehicle exceeded the limits of an inventory search when they invaded the steering column.

The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution ensures "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures. . . ." U.S. Const. amend. IV. "Searches and seizures conducted by governmental officials without prior court approval are per se unreasonable unless they fall within one of the few exceptions to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement." State v. Jackson, 542 N.W.2d 842, 845 (Iowa 1996) (citing Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 357, 88 S.Ct. 507, 514, 19 L.Ed.2d 576, 585 (1967); State v. Cook, 530 N.W.2d 728, 731 (Iowa 1995)). The Supreme Court has recognized a "specifically established and well-delineated" exception to the warrant requirement for searches of automobiles and their contents. California v. Acevedo, 500 U.S. 565, 581, 111 S.Ct. 1982, 1991, 114 L.Ed.2d 619, 634 (1991).

A review of the evolution of the automobile exception is useful in the analysis of the issue presented in this case. The United States Supreme Court first applied the exception in Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925). In Carroll, the Court held a search warrant is unnecessary for the search of an automobile when officers have probable cause to believe the vehicle contains contraband. 267 U.S. at 153-56, 45 S.Ct. at 285-86, 69 L.Ed. at 551-53. The Court concluded warrantless searches of vehicles based on probable cause are constitutionally permissible as it would be impracticable to require officers to secure a warrant "because the vehicle can be quickly moved out of the locality or jurisdiction in which the warrant may be sought." Id. at 153, 45 S.Ct. at 285, 69 L.Ed. at 551. Thus, the original impetus for allowing warrantless searches of automobiles based upon probable cause was the exigency inherent in dealing with movable vehicles.

Forty-five years after Carroll was decided, the Court again addressed the scope of the automobile exception in Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970). In Chambers, the police stopped a vehicle matching a description of the vehicle used an hour earlier by armed gunmen who robbed a gas station. 399 U.S. at 44, 90 S.Ct. at 1977, 26 L.Ed.2d at 424. The officers arrested the passengers on suspicion of armed robbery, and impounded the vehicle at the police station. The officers conducted a search of the vehicle at the police station and found a gun concealed under the dashboard. Id.

Rejecting Chambers' claim that the search by the officers at the police station was unreasonable because no exigency existed to justify a warrantless search of the impounded vehicle, the court noted:

Arguably, because of the preference for a magistrate's judgment, only the immobilization of the car should be permitted until a search warrant is obtained; arguably, only the "lesser" intrusion is permissible until the magistrate authorizes the "greater." But which is the "greater" and which the "lesser" intrusion is itself a debatable question and the answer may depend on a variety of circumstances. For constitutional purposes, we see no difference between on the one hand seizing and holding a car before presenting the probable cause issue to a magistrate and on the other hand carrying out an immediate search without a warrant. Given probable cause to search, either course is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.

On the facts before us, the [vehicle] could have been searched on the spot when it was stopped since there was probable cause to search and it was a fleeting target for a search. The probable-cause factor still obtained at the station house and so did the mobility of the car unless the Fourth Amendment permits a warrantless seizure of the car and the denial of its use to anyone until a warrant is secured. In that event there is little to choose in terms of practical consequences between an immediate search without a warrant and the car's immobilization until a warrant is obtained.

Id. at 51-52, 90 S.Ct. at 1981, 26 L.Ed.2d at 428 (emphasis added). The Court concluded law enforcement officers' encounters with vehicles that are readily capable of movement are sufficiently "exigent" to allow for warrantless searches based on probable cause. Id. The exigencies faced by law enforcement officers dealing with motor vehicles do not evaporate when the vehicle is removed from the scene of the stop to a police station or other place of impoundment. United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 807 n. 9, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 2163 n. 9, 72 L.Ed.2d 572, 583 n. 9 (1982) ("[I]f an immediate search on the scene could be conducted, but not one at the station if the vehicle is impounded, police often simply would search the vehicle on the street—at no advantage to the occupants, yet possibly at certain costs to the police."); see United States v. Watts, 329 F.3d 1282, 1286 (11th Cir.2003) ("[T]he requirement of exigent circumstances is satisfied by the `ready mobility' inherent in all automobiles that reasonably appear to be capable of functioning." (Emphasis in original.)).

In a more recent phase of the evolution of the automobile...