State v. Izzolena

• Citation: 609 N.W.2d 541
• Decision Date: 26 April 2000
• Docket Number: No. 99-683.,99-683.
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Anne E. IZZOLENA, Appellant.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Iowa

609 N.W.2d 541

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Anne E. IZZOLENA, Appellant.

No. 99-683.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

April 26, 2000.

Jeffrey T. Mains of Benzoni Law Office, P.L.C., Des Moines, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Martha E. Boesen, Assistant Attorney General, John P. Sarcone, County Attorney, and Joe Weeg, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.

Considered en banc.

CADY, Justice.

Anne Izzolena appeals from the sentence imposed by the district court following her conviction for involuntary manslaughter in violation of Iowa Code section 707.6A(2)(a) (Supp.1997).¹ She claims the restitution award imposed by the district court under Iowa Code section 910.3B violates due process, double jeopardy, and the prohibition against excessive fines. We affirm.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

Anne Izzolena was driving her Volvo automobile on a rural road in southeast Polk County in the early morning hours of January 3, 1998, after a night of drinking alcoholic beverages. Steve Shank occupied the passenger seat of the vehicle. He was not wearing a seatbelt. The weather was unseasonably warm, and visibility was clear.

Izzolena approached a "T"-intersection while traveling approximately fifty miles per hour. The intersection was marked with a stop sign which directed Izzolena to stop at the intersection. Izzolena proceeded through the intersection without applying the brakes of the vehicle and smashed the front of the vehicle into a tree a short distance off the roadway. The impact forced the engine of the vehicle into the passenger compartment and violently threw the occupants forward.

Numerous law enforcement and medical personnel arrived at the scene of the crash. Izzolena was transported to a Des Moines hospital by air ambulance for medical treatment. Shank was extricated from the mangled vehicle with the aid of hydraulic equipment. He died at the scene.

A urine sample obtained at the hospital revealed Izzolena had an alcohol concentration of .184. Shank died with a blood alcohol content of .340.

Izzolena was charged with vehicular homicide under section 707.6A(1) and 707.6A(2)(a). She waived her right to a trial by jury and agreed to a bench trial on stipulated evidence. The district court found her guilty of the crime of unintentionally causing the death of another by operating a motor vehicle in a reckless manner in violation of section 707.6A(2)(a).

Izzolena was sentenced by the district court to an indeterminate term of incarceration not to exceed ten years. The district court also imposed a victim restitution award under section 910.3B of $150,000.

Izzolena filed an appeal. She claims the victim restitution award imposed by the district court violates the Double Jeopardy, Excessive Fines, and Due Process Clauses of the United States and Iowa Constitutions.

II. Scope of Review.

We review constitutional issues de novo. State v. Hamrick, 595 N.W.2d 492, 493 (Iowa 1999).

III. Victim Restitution.

Our legislature has enacted a comprehensive scheme for restitution in all criminal cases which result in a judgment of conviction, except simple misdemeanor traffic convictions. See generally Iowa Code ch. 910. This chapter requires the sentencing court to order offenders to make restitution for their criminal activities to the victims of the crime, and to the clerk of court. See Iowa Code § 910.2.

Restitution for criminal activities, therefore, is broadly defined by statute to not only mean "payment of pecuniary damages to a victim" but also

fines, penalties, and surcharges, the contribution of funds to a local anticrime organization which provided assistance to law enforcement in an offender's case, the payment of crime victim compensation program reimbursements, ... court costs including ... court-appointed attorney's fees, or the expense of a public defender, and the performance of a public service by an offender in an amount set by the court when the offender cannot reasonably pay all or part of the court costs including ... court-appointed attorney's fees, or the expense of a public defender.

Id. § 910.1(4).

"Pecuniary damages" is defined by our legislature to mean

all damages to the extent not paid by an insurer, which a victim could recover against the offender in a civil action arising out of the same facts or event, except punitive damages and damages for pain, suffering, mental anguish, and loss of consortium.

Id. § 910.1(3). Pecuniary damages also include "damages for wrongful death and expenses incurred for psychiatric or psychological services or counseling or other counseling for the victim which became necessary as a direct result of the criminal activity." Id. A victim is defined by statute to mean "a person who has suffered pecuniary damages as a result of the offender's activities." Id. § 910.1(5).

Our legislature recently expanded the scope of restitution to require an offender convicted of a felony resulting in death to pay at least $150,000 in restitution to the victim's estate. Id. § 910.3B(1). This award is in addition to victim restitution for pecuniary damage under section 910.1(4). The statute provides:

In all criminal cases in which the offender is convicted of a felony in which the act or acts committed by the offender caused the death of another person, in addition to the amount determined to be payable and ordered to be paid to a victim for pecuniary damages, as defined under section 910.1, and determined under section 910.3, the court shall also order the offender to pay at least one hundred fifty thousand dollars in restitution to the victim's estate. The obligation to pay the additional amount shall not be dischargeable in any proceeding under the federal Bankruptcy Act. Payment of the additional amount shall have the same priority as payment of a victim's pecuniary damages under section 910.2, in the offender's plan for restitution.

Id.

The restitution award under section 910.3B does not impede or supersede the right to pursue additional damages in a civil action arising from the same facts. Id. § 910.3B(2). Evidence of the entry of a restitution award and the amount of the award is inadmissible in any subsequent civil action arising from the same set of facts. Id. On the other hand, an offender ordered to pay restitution under section 910.3B is precluded from denying the elements of the offense which resulted in the award in any subsequent civil action arising from the same facts or event. Id. § 910.3B(3). A restitution award under chapter 910 is also offset against any judgment in favor of a victim in any subsequent civil action arising from the same facts. Id. § 910.8 (1997).²

Izzolena challenges the restitution award entered by the district court as a part of the sentencing order. She claims the award constitutes an excessive fine in violation to the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article I, section 17 of the Iowa Constitution. She also alleges it violates the Double Jeopardy Clauses of both constitutions as well as her rights under the Due Process Clause.

IV. Constitutional Claims.

A. Excessive Fine.

The Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines be imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted." Similarly, article I, section 17 of the Iowa Constitution reads: "Excessive bail shall not be required; excessive fines shall not be imposed, and cruel and unusual punishment shall not be inflicted." The similarity between the two clauses permits us to look to the interpretations by the Unites States Supreme Court for guidance in interpreting our own clause. See Davenport Water Co. v. Iowa State Commerce Comm'n, 190 N.W.2d 583, 593 (Iowa 1971).

The Supreme Court has not specifically considered whether victim restitution ordered as a part of a sentence in a criminal case implicates the Excessive Fines Clause. In fact, the Supreme Court has had few opportunities to consider the application of the Excessive Fines Clause. See Browning-Ferris Indus. v. Kelco Disposal, Inc., 492 U.S. 257, 265, 109 S.Ct. 2909, 2915, 106 L.Ed.2d 219, 232 (1989).

Nevertheless, a few helpful principles can be distilled from those cases which have addressed the clause. First, the Excessive Fines Clause does not apply to punitive damages in cases between private parties. See id. Instead, the clause was intended to limit the steps a government may take against an individual in imposing excessive monetary sanctions. Id. at 275, 109 S.Ct. at 2920, 106 L.Ed.2d at 238. Second, the clause is implicated when government has exercised its power to extract payments as punishment for an offense, whether the underlying proceeding is civil or criminal. Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602, 609-10, 113 S.Ct. 2801, 2805, 125 L.Ed.2d 488, 497 (1993); see In re H.E.W., Inc., 530 N.W.2d 460, 464 (Iowa 1995). Thus, the term "fine" not only embraces those monetary sanctions traditionally imposed in a criminal case, but other sanctions which constitute punishment for an offense. United States v. Bajakajian, 524 U.S. 321, 327, 118 S.Ct. 2028, 2033, 141 L.Ed.2d 314, 325 (1998).

Support for these principles is found in the history of the Excessive Fines Clause. The Eighth Amendment was based directly upon article I, section 9 of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was derived from the 1689 English Declaration of Rights. See Browning-Ferris, 492 U.S. at 266, 109 S.Ct. at 2915, 106 L.Ed.2d at 233. Section 10 of the English Bill of Rights states "Excessive bail ought not be required, nor excessive fines imposed; nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted." 1 Wm. & Mary 2d Sess. ch. 2, 3 Stat. at Large 440, 441 (1689). It was adopted to curb the English judges under the Stuarts' reigns from imposing heavy fines upon the king's enemies. See L. Schwoerer, The Declaration of Rights, 1689, at 91 (1981). The framers of our constitution were aware of the abuses that led to the 1689 Bill...