State v. Otto, 96-824
| Decision Date | 23 July 1997 |
| Docket Number | No. 96-824,96-824 |
| Citation | 566 N.W.2d 509 |
| Parties | STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Lou Ann OTTO, Appellant. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Linda Del Gallo, State Appellate Defender, and Patricia Reynolds, Assistant State Appellate Defender, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Karen Doland, Assistant Attorney General, Steven J. Oeth, County Attorney, and Jim P. Robbins, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.
Considered by McGIVERIN, C.J., and HARRIS, LARSON, CARTER, and SNELL, JJ.
Lou Ann Otto appeals the judgment and sentence entered upon her conviction of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated in violation of Iowa Code section 321J.2 (1995). She argues the district court erred in denying her motion to suppress evidence obtained from an allegedly unlawful stop of her vehicle. We affirm.
On June 3, 1995, at approximately 1:00 a.m., Iowa State Patrolman Kent Lowman observed two cars behind him as he traveled north on Highway 17. Lowman pulled over to check the vehicles' speeds. The first car was traveling at a speed of fifty-five miles per hour. The second car, driven by Lou Ann Otto, was traveling at a speed of forty miles an hour. (The speed limit on Highway 17 is fifty-five miles per hour.) Lowman followed Otto for approximately two and one-half miles to the intersection of Highways 17 and 30. He observed that Otto's car was changing speeds from forty, forty-two, forty-five and forty-eight miles per hour. Lowman further observed that it was "veering left and right at a sharp angle," and that it "was going left and right and back constantly."
Otto's car made a normal turn from Highway 17 to Highway 30. Lowman continued to follow the car for approximately 1.1 miles. He observed the car picked up speed to fifty-five miles per hour, that it traveled behind another vehicle at a close distance, approximately twenty-five feet, and that it continued to veer from one side of its lane to the other. Lowman stopped Otto on the basis that she was veering and following the car ahead of her closely.
Otto failed field sobriety tests and was arrested. Testing showed she had a breath-alcohol concentration of .168. She was charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.
Otto filed a motion to suppress any evidence obtained as a result of the stop. She alleged that the stop was not based on reasonable cause. Following a hearing, the district court denied Otto's motion. It found that Otto's weaving reasonably led to the conclusion that criminal activity was afoot. Otto appeals the district court's denial of her motion to suppress.
A challenge to the district court's ruling on a motion to suppress implicates the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. We review constitutional issues de novo. State v. Wiese, 525 N.W.2d 412, 414 (Iowa 1994).
In State v. Tompkins, 507 N.W.2d 736, 740 (Iowa App.1993), our court of appeals found that a police officer's observations of a vehicle weaving within its own lane gave rise to reasonable cause to believe that the defendant was driving under the influence. In that case, police observed defendant's vehicle weaving within its own lane of traffic several times. Tompkins, 507 N.W.2d at 737. The car weaved from the center line to the right side boundary line and touched but never crossed either line. Id. The...
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State v. Struve
...Ct. App. 1993) (en banc)), or erratic speed changes and "veering ... at sharp angles," id. at 204–05 (discussing State v. Otto , 566 N.W.2d 509, 510–11 (Iowa 1997) (per curiam)), provided reasonable suspicion that the driver may have been intoxicated. We reasoned that "any vehicle could be ......
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State v. Pratt
...back and forth"). Nor do we quarrel with the dissent's cases that hold that a bright-line rule is inappropriate. See State v. Otto, 566 N.W.2d 509, 511 (Iowa 1997); State v. Post, 2007 WI 60, ¶ 18, 733 N.W.2d 634.1 Indeed, we believe it is the dissent that is looking for a hard rule that in......
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State v. Tague
...or the right side edge line, gave the officer reasonable suspicion to stop the defendant for investigatory purposes. In State v. Otto, 566 N.W.2d 509 (Iowa 1997), we discussed the Tompkins holding. We We do not believe Tompkins should be read to hold that observations of a vehicle weaving w......
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State v. Ngo, No. 9-473/08-0522 (Iowa App. 7/22/2009), 9-473/08-0522.
... ... 2 State v ... Otto, 566 N.W.2d 509, 510 (Iowa 1997). We review constitutional issues de novo. State v. Breuer, 577 N.W.2d 41, 44 (Iowa 1998). In doing so, we make an ... ...
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Search and seizure
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