State v. Jones

• Decision Date: 16 July 2003
• Docket Number: No. 02-0505.,02-0505.
• Citation: 666 N.W.2d 142
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellant, v. Marzel JONES, Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

666 N.W.2d 142

STATE of Iowa, Appellant, v. Marzel JONES, Appellee.

No. 02-0505.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

July 16, 2003.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Mary E. Tabor, Assistant Attorney General, Richard R. Phillips, County Attorney, and Alan Ostergren, Assistant County Attorney, for appellant.

Linda Del Gallo, State Appellate Defender, and Shellie L. Knipfer, Assistant State Appellate Defender, for appellee.

Andrew J. Bracken and Danielle J. Jess of Ahlers, Cooney, Dorweiler, Haynie, Smith & Allbee, P.C., Des Moines, for amici curiae Iowa Association of School Boards and School Administrators of Iowa.

Catherine K. Levine, Des Moines, for amicus curiae Iowa Civil Liberties Union.

CADY, Justice.

In this appeal, we consider a number of issues arising from the search of a high school student's locker in light of the state and federal constitutional prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure. After considering the search conducted in light of the balance between the student's privacy interest and the interest of the school in maintaining a proper educational environment, we conclude that the search was permissible and the district court erred in suppressing evidence obtained in the course of the search.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

On December 20, 2001, teachers and administrators at Muscatine High School attempted to complete an annual pre-winter break cleanout of the lockers assigned to each student at the school. The students were asked three to four days before the cleanout to report to their locker at an assigned time to open it so a faculty member could observe its contents. The general purpose of the cleanout was to ensure the health and safety of the students and staff and to help maintain the school's supplies. Accordingly, faculty assigned to examine the lockers kept an eye out for overdue library books, excessive trash, and misplaced food items. They also watched for items of a more nefarious nature, including weapons and controlled substances. The cleanout functioned as expected for approximately 1400 of the 1700 students at the school. However, a sizeable minority—including the appellee, Marzel Jones—did not report for the cleanout at their designated time.

The next day, two building aides went around to the lockers that had not been checked the day before. Acting pursuant to rules and regulations adopted by the school board, the aides opened each locker to inspect its contents. The aides did not know the names of the students assigned to the lockers they were inspecting. One of the lockers they opened contained only one item: a blue, nylon coat, which hung from one of the two hooks in the locker. Apparently curious about its ownership and concerned that it might hold trash, supplies, or contraband, one of the aides manipulated the coat and discovered a small bag of what appeared to be marijuana in an outside pocket. The aides then returned the coat to the locker and contacted the school's principal.

After crosschecking the locker number with records kept by the administration, the principal determined the locker in which the suspected marijuana was found belonged to Jones. The principal and aides then went to Jones' classroom and escorted him to his locker. Jones was asked to open the locker and, after doing so, was further asked if anything in the locker "would cause any educational or legal difficulties for him." Jones replied in the negative. The principal then removed the coat from the locker. Jones grabbed the coat, struck the principal across the arms, broke free from him, and ran away. The principal gave chase and, after three attempts, captured and held Jones until the police arrived. The police retrieved the bag and determined that it held marijuana.

Jones was later charged with possession of a controlled substance in violation of Iowa Code section 124.401(5) (2001). He subsequently filed a motion to suppress the evidence—the marijuana—obtained during the search of his locker. He claimed that the search violated his right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure pursuant to the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article I, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution. The lone witness at the suppression hearing was the principal of the high school, who testified about school policy relating to search and seizure and the events of December 20 and 21. The district court granted the motion to suppress. It found that the school officials did not have reasonable grounds for searching Jones' coat pocket. The State filed a motion requesting the judge reconsider and alter his decision. The motion was denied. The State then sought discretionary review, which we granted.

II. Standard of Review and Preservation of Error.

This controversy arises from an alleged violation of a constitutional right, making our review de novo. State v. Naujoks, 637 N.W.2d 101, 106 (Iowa 2001). In undertaking this review, we assess "the totality of the circumstances as shown by the entire record," including "the evidence presented at the suppression hearing." Id. Jones acknowledges the State has preserved error on all issues raised.

III. Foundational Principles of Search and Seizure Analysis.

As we have recognized on numerous occasions in the past, "the Fourth Amendment exists to protect the right of the people to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures by government officials."¹ State v. Reinier, 628 N.W.2d 460, 464 (Iowa 2001); see also Naujoks, 637 N.W.2d at 106; State v. Breuer, 577 N.W.2d 41, 45 (Iowa 1998). The Iowa Constitution also contains a search and seizure clause that is virtually identical to the Fourth Amendment. Compare Iowa Const. art. I, § 8, with U.S. Const. amend. 4. Accordingly, we usually interpret "`the scope and purpose of article I, section 8, of the Iowa Constitution to track with federal interpretations of the Fourth Amendment.'" Breuer, 577 N.W.2d at 44 (quoting State v. Showalter, 427 N.W.2d 166, 168 (Iowa 1988)).

The essential purpose of both constitutional provisions " `is to impose a standard of "reasonableness" upon the exercise of discretion by government officials ... in order "to safeguard the privacy and security of individuals against arbitrary invasion." ` " Naujoks, 637 N.W.2d at 107 (citation omitted). In light of this purpose, we have delineated a two-part test that applies in most cases requiring the determination of whether particular governmental action violates the constitutional search and seizure provisions. See id. at 106 (describing our usual search and seizure analysis focused on the expectation of privacy and the reasonableness of an invasion of that privacy). However, we believe the specific facts of this case warrant an analysis that is more focused than our general approach.

As we observed in another context involving a search and seizure question, "it has been clear that the location of property seized by authorities may be of critical importance in determining whether the search and seizure were lawful." State v. Flynn, 360 N.W.2d 762, 765 (Iowa 1985). With this in mind, it is significant in this case that the search of Jones' locker occurred on school grounds. Although students maintain their constitutional rights within the school setting, the United States Supreme Court has acknowledged this setting "requires some easing of the restrictions to which searches by public authorities are ordinarily subject."²New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325, 340, 105 S.Ct. 733, 742, 83 L.Ed.2d 720, 733 (1985). The Court has provided specific commentary on this "easing of the restrictions" in three cases.

In the first case, New Jersey v. T.L.O., the Court articulated several baseline principles related to the search of a student in the school setting. However, T.L.O. focused on the search of a specific student whose property was searched based on some measure of individualized suspicion of her conduct. See id. at 345-47, 105 S.Ct. at 744-46, 83 L.Ed.2d at 737-38. In two subsequent cases, the Court considered the propriety of searches conducted in the absence of individualized suspicion of a particular student. See Bd. of Ed. of Indep. Sch. Dist. No. 92 v. Earls, 536 U.S. 822, 122 S.Ct. 2559, 153 L.Ed.2d 735, (2002); Vernonia Sch. Dist. 47J v. Acton, 515 U.S. 646, 115 S.Ct. 2386, 132 L.Ed.2d 564 (1995). In these cases, the search of the students was premised on generalized concerns about drug use prevention in light of the effect of the presence of drugs on the educational environment as a whole.

We believe the locker search conducted by the school officials in this case is most closely analogized to the broad searches conducted in Acton and Earls. Although this search eventually focused on Jones' locker, the process leading to that point was random and carried out with the purpose of protecting the health and safety of the whole student body to preserve a proper educational environment. Although T.L.O., Acton, and Earls each provide helpful insight on search and seizure in schools, it is the sum of their holdings, crystallized in the Court's opinion in Earls, from which our analysis must launch. Under the Earls analysis, we must consider three factors: (1) "the nature of the privacy interest allegedly compromised" by the search, (2) "the character of the intrusion imposed by the [search] [p]olicy," and (3) "the nature and immediacy of the [school's] concerns and the efficacy of the [search] [p]olicy in meeting them." Earls, 536 U.S. at 830, 832, 834, 122 S.Ct. at 2565-67, 153 L.Ed.2d at 744, 746-47 (citations omitted).

The upshot of this analysis, as is evidenced by the controversy arising in the present case, is that "[e]vidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment is inadmissible at trial under the exclusionary rule." Breuer, 577 N.W.2d at 45. The district court considered the search of Jones' locker in light of a test articulated by the Court in T.L.O. and suppressed the evidence found in Jones' coat...