State v. Booth
| Decision Date | 08 October 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 02-1315.,02-1315. |
| Citation | 670 N.W.2d 209 |
| Parties | STATE of Iowa, Appellant, v. Jennifer Lynn BOOTH, Appellee. City of Iowa City, Appellant, v. Jennifer Lynn Booth, Appellee. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Cristen C. Odell, Assistant Attorney General, Janet Lyness, Assistant County Attorney, and Susan Dulek, Assistant City Attorney, for appellants.
Chad W. Thomas, Iowa City, and Jill Novak, Student Legal Intern, Iowa City, for appellee.
In this appeal, we must determine whether the front steps and common hallway of an apartment house are public places. The appellee was charged with two alcohol-related offenses premised on her being in a public place at the time the offenses were committed. She was subsequently found guilty of both charges by a judicial magistrate, but her convictions were overturned by the district court, which concluded the front steps and hallway of the house were not public places. The State challenges the district court's determination with this appeal. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the decision of the district court and remand for entry of an order affirming the judgment and sentence of the judicial magistrate.
On August 11, 2001, an officer from the Iowa City police department responded to a report of a fight at a local apartment house. After arriving at the scene, the officer approached the appellee, Jennifer Lynn Booth, one of the tenants of the house, who was standing on the exterior steps of the building's entryway. Booth had not been directly involved in the fight, but had information to provide to the officer. She and the officer began a conversation on the front steps but soon moved in to the common hallway of the house to continue their conversation. At all times during the conversation, Booth was intoxicated and had an open container of alcohol in her possession. These facts led the officer to issue Booth two citations, one for public intoxication and one for possession of an open container of alcohol in a public place.
A bench trial on Booth's offenses commenced before a judicial magistrate on November 20. Booth conceded every element of the two charges against her except for the question of whether the offenses occurred in a public place. Not surprisingly, the evidence presented at the trial was focused on defining the character of the apartment house, the front steps, and the common hallway.
The evidence revealed that the house contained six, two-bedroom apartments with approximately fourteen to sixteen total residents. To access the apartments, all persons had to use the exterior steps, front entryway, and common hallway of the house. A washer and dryer were provided for the residents' use and were kept in the common hallway. Residents were also permitted to use a small, six-space parking lot on the grounds. In addition to the tenants, the defendant testified to having seen guests of the tenants, mail carriers, and delivery people in the house. However, there was no gate or fence around the house preventing a person from walking up to the front steps. Nor were there any signs posted at the front steps or common hallway indicating that access to those areas was restricted. Moreover, no locks or other security devices prevented entry into the common hallway from the front steps.
After taking this evidence under advisement, the judicial magistrate determined that the front steps and common hallway of the apartment house were public places and found Booth guilty of both charges. Booth appealed to the district court pursuant to Iowa Rule of Criminal Procedure 2.73. After reviewing the record in the case, the district court determined the magistrate's decision was in error in that the front steps and hallway were not public places. The district court vacated and set aside Booth's convictions, sustained her appeal, and dismissed the charges against her. The State sought and was granted discretionary review of the district court's decision.
We recently had the opportunity to summarize our standard of review for issues of statutory interpretation in In re Detention of Swanson, 668 N.W.2d 570, 574-75 (Iowa 2003):
We focus on the intent of the legislature when construing [a] statute, looking first and foremost to the language it chose in creating the act. Gardin v. Long Beach Mortgage Co., 661 N.W.2d 193, 197 (Iowa 2003). We read the statute "as a whole and give it `its plain and obvious meaning, a sensible and logical construction,'" which does not create an "impractical or absurd result." Id. (quoting Hamilton v. City of Urbandale, 291 N.W.2d 15, 17 (Iowa 1980)). If it is necessary, "we look to prior decisions of this court and others, similar statutes, dictionary definitions, and common usage" to aid our interpretation. Id. We review the district court's construction of the statute for correction of errors at law. See State v. Mitchell, 568 N.W.2d 493, 500 (Iowa 1997).
Booth was charged with two alcohol-related offenses due to her presence and conduct at the apartment house. The first charge was for public intoxication as defined by the Iowa Code:
A person shall not use or consume alcoholic liquor in any public place except premises covered by a liquor control license.... A person shall not be intoxicated or simulate intoxication in a public place. A person violating this subsection is guilty of a simple misdemeanor.
Iowa Code § 123.46(2) (2001) (emphasis added). She was also charged with possession of an open container of alcohol in a public place, an offense defined by the Iowa City City Code:
Possession Prohibited: It shall be unlawful for any person to possess alcoholic beverages in any open container upon the public streets or alleys, including the sidewalk within the public right of way, and in any public place, except premises covered by a license or permit, and when applicable a public right of way easement agreement.
Iowa City City Code § 4-5-5(B) (emphasis added).
To secure Booth's convictions, the State had the burden of showing that she was in a public place at the time the offenses were committed. A "public place" in this context is defined as "any place, building, or conveyance to which the public has or is permitted access." Id. § 123.3(27). The Iowa City City Code uses this definition as well. Iowa City City Code 4-5-1 (). Thus, we must determine whether Booth was in a place "to which the public has or is permitted access" when the offenses were allegedly committed. Id. § 123.3(27).
Booth argues that we should adopt the approach taken by the district court and apply our holding in State v. Lake, 476 N.W.2d 55 (Iowa 1991) in her favor. In Lake, we determined that the defendant was not in a public place for purposes of the public intoxication statute while she was sitting in her friend's vehicle even though the vehicle was in a public location. See id. at 55-56. In reaching our ultimate conclusion in Lake, we observed, "[a] right of public access is the touchstone of the section 123.3[(27)] definition of public place." Id. at 55. Launching from this observation, Booth asserts the front steps and common hallway of the apartment house are not public places because only tenants, invited guests, and perhaps other members of the public who would have a legitimate reason to enter the building were permitted access to the building. Thus, she believes, because neither the tenants nor their invited guests should be considered part of the general public, no member of "the public has or is permitted access" and the front steps and hallway are not public places. Iowa Code § 123.3(27). In essence, Booth argues public access to a place or building under the statute requires access to be permitted to all the public.1
The State responds to Booth's argument by attempting to undercut what it believes is a far too permissive interpretation of the statute. It argues that the adoption of Booth's approach to the definition of "public place" would be contrary to the purpose of alcohol consumption control laws and would permit offenders to evade charges in areas that the laws were meant to cover. Moreover, the State takes issue with what it believes is a mischaracterization of the nature of the apartment house and Booth's right to act within it, noting her lease explicitly conveyed to her the control of only her apartment and not the entire house.
At the core of both parties' arguments is their disagreement over the extent "to which the public has or is permitted" access to the front steps and common hallway. Id. The controversy over this issue belies underlying issues related to defining the nature of "the public" in this context and what it means for the public to have access to a location. We agree that Lake has an important role in resolving these questions, but the legislature's intent must guide our ultimate resolution. Gardin, 661 N.W.2d at 197. As in Lake, we believe it is necessary to place the statute's language in proper context to ensure its proper construction. See Lake, 476 N.W.2d at 56.
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