State v. Boyd

• Decision Date: 18 December 1974
• Docket Number: No. 56935,56935
• Citation: 224 N.W.2d 609
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Rex A. BOYD, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 609

224 N.W.2d 609

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Rex A. BOYD, Appellant.

No. 56935.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Dec. 18, 1974.

Patterson, Lorentzen, Duffield, Timmons, Irish & Becker, of Des Moines, for appellant.

Richard C. Turner, Atty. Gen., Fred M. Haskins, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Ray Fenton, County Atty., for appellee.

Heard by MOORE, C.J., and MASON, RAWLINGS, LeGRAND, REES, UHLENHOPP, REYNOLDSON, HARRIS, and McCORMICK, JJ.

LeGRAND, Justice.

A Polk County jury convicted defendant of the crime of possessing a controlled substance (marijuana) with intent to deliver in violation of § 204.401(1), The Code. He was sentenced to serve a term of not more than five years in the Men's Reformatory, a judgment from which he appeals. We affirm the trial court.

Three issues are presented for review. They are: (1) error in refusing to dismiss the charge for the State's failure to file a county attorney's information within 30 days from the time defendant was held to answer (§ 795.1, The Code); (2) error in restricting defendant's examination of witnesses on his motion to suppress evidence seized by virtue of a search warrant; and (3) error in submitting the issue of defendant's intent to deliver the marijuana in his possession because there was no evidence to sustain that allegation.

Briefly stated, the facts upon which defendant's conviction depends are these. Acting on an informant's tip, a Des Moines police officer obtained a warrant to search the premises where defendant lived for controlled substances allegedly in his possession contrary to Chapter 204, The Code.

Four police officers executed the warrant and the ensuing search revealed 15 bricks of marijuana wrapped in cellophane of varying colors; six cellophane or plastic bags containing marijuana; two sets of weighing scales; and three small plastic butter dishes containing marijuana seeds. The total weight of the marijuana was approximately 33 pounds.

Defendant was subsequently charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, contrary to the provisions of § 204.401(1). As already mentioned, his trial on that charge resulted in his conviction and sentence. This appeal seeks to reverse that result.

I. Defendant first challenges the proceedings against him because the county attorney's information was not filed within 30 days from the time he was held to answer. He relies on § 795.1, The Code, the pertinent provision of which is as follows:

'When a person is held to answer for a public offense, if an indictment be not found against him within thirty days, the court must order the prosecution to be dismissed, unless good cause to the contrary be shown * * *'

We mention parenthetically the term indictment in the statute includes charges brought by county attorney's information. See State v. Nelson, Iowa, 222 N.W.2d 445, filed October 16, 1974.

Following his arrest, defendant was represented by counsel and was released from custody on bond. He made no request for a quick indictment under § 795.1. Until our decision in State v. Gorham, 206 N.W.2d 908 (Iowa 1973), this combination of circumstances would have constituted a waiver of the provisions of that statute.

We doubt if Gorham and Nelson apply here under the prospectivity rule announced in the former, but we pass that question, since it was not relied on in the trial court. We consider and decide the case as it was presented and decided there.

Assuming defendant is entitled to the benefit of the rule announced in Gorham as applied to § 795.1 in Nelson, the charge against him must be dismissed unless good cause for the delay in filing the information has been shown. The trial court found good cause and we agree.

In Gorham (206 N.W.2d at 914) we said the State had the burden of showing good cause for any delay beyond the statutory period and that 'courts must engage in an ad hoc delicate balancing process in evaluating any 'good cause' so shown.'

With this in mind, we relate briefly the circumstances under which the trial court in the present case found good cause for delay in complying with § 795.1, The Code.

On April 25, 1973, our opinion in State v. Gorham, supra, abrogated the demand-waiver rule as the Sole test and made failure to demand a speedy trial or a speedy indictment only one circumstance to be considered in determining whether good cause existed for delay.

There is no doubt the change worked by Gorham imposed additional and unanticipated burdens upon prosecutors. While ordinarily the State may not plead the press of business to escape the clear requirement of § 795.1, we said in State v. Jennings, 195 N.W.2d 351, 356 (Iowa 1972), delay resulting from congestion of the trial docket attributable to exceptional circumstances may constitute good cause for a reasonable trial postponement. At the same time we cautioned that chronic crowded dockets, sickness of a trial judge, or unavailability of judges due to vacation schedules would not alone suffice. In that connection we said:

'The public policy inherent in § 795.2 (in this case § 795.1) requires trial within 60 days absent good cause, and it is the State's duty to effectuate that policy.'

On this subject the ABA Standards Relating to Administration of Criminal Justice, Compilation, pages 276, 277 (1974), recognize that delay in bringing a case to trial resulting from 'congestion of the trial docket when the congestion is attributable to exceptional circumstances' should be excluded from the period in computing time within which a case must be brought to trial.

Limiting ourselves to the puculiar facts of this case, we hold the trial court did not err in overruling defendant's motion for a dismissal of the charges against him. We do not face here the chronic court congestion condemned in Jennings. We are confronted rather with the type of 'exceptional circumstances' recognized both in that case and in the ABA Standards.

For many years the State had relied on the demand-waiver rule. When Gorham changed this, it was neither practical nor wise to expect the new procedure to be effective overnight. We believe the 'delicate balancing process' mentioned in Gorham justifies us in taking this into consideration. Fairness to the State dictates it be given a reasonable opportunity to adjust to the drastic modification in the processing of criminal cases.

Perhaps the most persuasive argument for the State is found in State v. Jackson, 173 N.W.2d 567, 569 (Iowa 1970), where we discussed the extent to which newly adopted rules should be applied:

'Important factors (in determining the application of a newly adopted rule to pending cases) include the purpose of the new rule; the extent to which the old standard had been relied upon; and the effect a particular kind of application will have on the administration of justice. Underlying all of these is the basic inquiry as to how seriously the discarded rule affected the 'very integrity of the fact-finding process' or produced 'the clear danger of convicting the innocent."

None of these factors will be subverted by the conclusion reached here. On the contrary, the result urged by defendant is manifestly unwarranted under this record. The county attorney testified to the difficulty, after the Gorham decision, of expeditiously disposing of the backlog developed before that case, while at the same time trying to process new matters within the statutory time allowed by §§ 795.1 and 795.2. We believe this presented a very real--and a very unusual--problem.

Limiting our finding to the peculiar facts presented in this case and repeating the caution that the State must make serious and good faith efforts to comply with the time limitations in §§ 795.1 and 795.2, we hold there was no error in the trial court's finding of good cause for the delay here nor in its refusal to dismiss the charges against defendant.

II. We consider next the claim of error concerning the sufficiency of evidence on the question of defendant's intent to deliver. Possession of controlled substances with intent to deliver is regarded as a more serious offense and draws a more severe penalty than possession for one's own use.

Defendant was charged under § 204.401(1), The Code, 1973, which makes it a crime to 'manufacture, deliver, or possess with intent to manufacture or deliver, a controlled substance, or to act with, enter into a common scheme or design with, or conspire with one or more other persons to manufacture, deliver, or possess with intent to manufacture or deliver, a controlled substance.'

Where, as here, intent is an essential element of a crime, it may be proven by either direct or circumstantial evidence. State v. Ampey, 210 N.W.2d 433, 434 (Iowa 1973). We have also noted intent is ordinarily hard to prove except by circumstantial evidence. State v. Graham, supra, 221 N.W.2d at 260. When the evidence is circumstantial alone, it must be entirely consistent with defendant's guilt and inconsistent with any rational theory of innocence. State v. Reeves, 209 N.W.2d 18, 21 (Iowa 1973). In considering sufficiency of the evidence, we view it in the light most favorable to the State and accord the evidence all reasonable inferences to support the verdict. State v. Graham, supra, 221 N.W.2d at 259, 260; State v. Myers, 215 N.W.2d 262, 263 (Iowa 1974).

We recite the evidence upon which the State relies. The search of defendant's abode disclosed about 33 pounds of marijuana. It was packaged in bricks weighing approximately two pounds each. There were also a number of small cellophane beggies containing marijuana. The officers also seized two sets of scales. There was also testimony by a narcotics officer that marijuana was usually packaged and assembled in two pound bricks for sale purposes.

This is all the evidence on the question of intent. There is no evidence of any delivery or attempt at delivery. There is no evidence as to the amount reasonably necessary to satisfy the personal wants of a...