State v. Heuser

• Decision Date: 07 May 2003
• Docket Number: No. 01-2027.,01-2027.
• Citation: 661 N.W.2d 157
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Lance Troy HEUSER, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

661 N.W.2d 157

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Lance Troy HEUSER, Appellant.

No. 01-2027.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

May 7, 2003.

Linda Del Gallo, State Appellate Defender, and Nan Jennisch, Assistant State Appellate Defender, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Jean C. Pettinger, Assistant Attorney General, Timothy N. Schott, County Attorney, and Stephen J. Lickiss, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.

STREIT, Justice.

A man claims his allergies drove him on a shopping spree to three different stores to buy cold medication and lithium batteries. Lance Heuser was convicted of two counts of possession of a precursor with intent to manufacture methamphetamine. Heuser argues the police officers did not have reasonable cause to stop the van in which Heuser and his companion were driving and there was insufficient evidence to support the convictions. Heuser also contends the trial court erred in admitting the labels on the cold medication boxes and batteries. Finally, Heuser asserts his trial counsel was ineffective for not allowing him to testify on his own behalf. Because there was reasonable cause to stop the van, the labels are admissible, trial counsel was not ineffective, and there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's convictions, we affirm.

I. Background and Facts

A Target store employee notified police that two people had purchased numerous packages of over-the-counter cold medication containing pseudoephedrine hydrochloride. The employee gave the police a description of the man and woman, the van they were driving, and the license plate number. The police located the van at Wal-Mart where they saw the woman go into Wal-Mart and come out with her purchases. The couple then drove to Walgreens. The man went into the store. The police contacted the store and asked what the man bought. The employee saw the man purchase several boxes of cold medication containing pseudoephedrine hydrochloride and ask about lithium batteries. The police stopped the van a short time later. The man was identified as Lance Heuser.

The woman consented to a search of the van. Inside, the police found eight packages of various cold medications and several loose blister packs of medicine. In total, the officers found 312 tablets containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine hydrochloride. The police also found twelve AA Energizer lithium batteries. Heuser and his companion were each charged with two counts of possession of a precursor with intent to manufacture methamphetamine in violation of Iowa Code sections 124.401(4)(a), (b), (f) (2001).

Heuser gave explanations for his possession of the cold medication and lithium batteries. After the couple gave conflicting stories about their shopping spree, Heuser explained the cold medication was for his personal use. He claimed he needed the medicine for his allergies but offered no reason for why he needed so much. Heuser's companion said she, too, had very bad allergies and needed the medication. As to the AA batteries, Heuser said he bought them that day at Kmart for a smoke detector he had with him in the van. However, the smoke detector required a nine-volt battery.

Heuser filed a motion to suppress all of the evidence the officers found during the search of the van. The court denied Heuser's motion. During trial, over Heuser's objections, the State offered into evidence the labels from the boxes of cold medication and the batteries. Though characterizing the labels as hearsay, the State argued the labels are admissible hearsay under the residual exception to the hearsay rule. See Iowa R. Evid. 5.803(24). Heuser objected to the admission of these labels asserting the labels did not fit within any of the exceptions to the hearsay rule. The district court concluded the labels should be admitted under the "market reports, commercial publications" exception of Iowa Rule of Evidence 5.803(17). Heuser appeals.

II. Merits

Heuser asserts the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress for lack of reasonable cause to stop the van. He contends the court erred in admitting the labels because they are inadmissible hearsay and impinge upon his constitutional right of confrontation. Heuser also argues there was insufficient evidence to support his convictions. Finally, he contends his trial counsel was ineffective for not allowing him to testify on his own behalf. We address each argument in turn.

A. Legality of the Stop

Heuser argues the trial court erred in overruling his motion to suppress the evidence obtained from the stop of the vehicle. At the suppression hearing, Heuser argued the police did not have reasonable cause to stop the van and did not have consent to search the vehicle. On appeal, Heuser only challenges the court's refusal to suppress the evidence based upon lack of reasonable cause. We review the district court's denial of Heuser's motion to suppress de novo because Heuser asserts his constitutional rights were violated when the officers allegedly stopped the van without reasonable cause. See State v. Wells, 629 N.W.2d 346, 351 (Iowa 2001)

.

The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution requires reasonable cause to stop a person for investigation. State v. Heminover, 619 N.W.2d 353, 357-58 (Iowa 2000) (overruled on other grounds by State v. Turner, 630 N.W.2d 601, 606 n. 2 (Iowa 2001)

). The main reason law enforcement may stop a person "is to resolve the ambiguity as to whether criminal activity is afoot." State v. Richardson, 501 N.W.2d 495, 497 (Iowa 1993). The United States Supreme Court has said reasonable cause may exist even when there is no probable cause for an arrest. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1884, 20 L.Ed.2d 889, 911 (1968); State v. Donnell, 239 N.W.2d 575, 577 (Iowa 1976). Once a defendant challenges the legality of an officer's stop, the State has the burden to show the officer had "specific and articulable cause to reasonably believe criminal activity [was] afoot." Heminover, 619 N.W.2d at 358.

Before the police officers stopped the van, the officers were faced with three major levels of suspicion. The Fort Dodge police department had been working with several area stores, including Target and Wal-Mart, to identify people buying precursors of methamphetamine. The first level of suspicion arose when Heuser and his companion bought several boxes of cold medication at Target. The couple entered the store together but separated and bought pseudoephedrine at different cash registers before returning to the van. As the Target employees' suspicions were piqued, they notified police. The level of suspicion ascended to a higher plane as the couple proceeded from Target to Wal-Mart. At each stop, Heuser traded places with his companion in driving the van, so as to alternate the person purchasing the medication. At Wal-Mart, the woman got out of the driver's side of the van and Heuser moved from the passenger side to the driver's side. His companion went into the store alone, made a purchase, and returned to the van. A third level of suspicion occurred when the couple drove to Walgreens where Heuser bought more cold medication and asked a Walgreens' employee about lithium batteries. With each stop and purchase of cold medication and batteries, Heuser climbed up the ladder of reasonable cause.

The United States Supreme Court has said police must "draw on their own experience and specialized training to make inferences from and deductions about the cumulative information available to them that might well elude an untrained person." United States v. Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266, 273, 122 S.Ct. 744, 750-51, 151 L.Ed.2d 740, 749-50 (2002). The manufacturing process for methamphetamine requires pseudoephedrine hydrochloride and lithium. The officers testified it is common for people to obtain pseudoephedrine hydrochloride from over-the-counter cold medications. They use batteries for the lithium in the manufacturing process. The officers testified Heuser's conduct was consistent with people engaged in the manufacture of methamphetamine who generally try to avoid suspicion by gathering cold medication and batteries from a number of stores.

This is not a case where a person possessed only a large amount of cold medication or only a number of lithium batteries. Rather, Heuser possessed an unusually large number of pills. In addition to the pills, the officers had reasonable cause to suspect Heuser also possessed lithium batteries. These facts coupled with Heuser's suspicious conduct of driving from store to store gathering medication and switching-off with his companion to buy the pills formed a solid basis upon which the officers had reasonable cause to stop the van to determine "whether criminal activity [was] afoot." See Richardson, 501 N.W.2d at 497

; see also Heminover, 619 N.W.2d at 358 (State has burden to prove officer has "specific and articulable cause to reasonably believe criminal activity [was] afoot."). We affirm the trial court's denial of Heuser's motion to suppress the evidence.

B. Hearsay Evidence

The State offered into evidence the labels from the boxes of cold medication and the batteries found in Heuser's van. The cold medication labels said the medication contained "pseudoephedrine hydrochloride." The batteries were labeled classifying them as "lithium batter[ies]." Heuser objected to this, arguing the labels and batteries constituted inadmissible hearsay. The court admitted the labels under the "market reports, commercial publications" exception to the general prohibition against hearsay evidence. See Iowa R. Evid. 5.803(17). On appeal Heuser argues the court's admission of the labels and batteries prejudiced him because they were the only evidence offered to prove the cold medications and batteries contained precursors to methamphetamine.¹ We review the trial court's admission of hearsay evidence for correction of errors of law. State v. Curry, 436 N.W.2d 371, 372 (Iowa Ct.App.1988). However,...