State v. Palmer, 95-1458

• Decision Date: 18 September 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-1458,95-1458
• Citation: 554 N.W.2d 859
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellant, v. William Albert PALMER, Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 859

554 N.W.2d 859

STATE of Iowa, Appellant, v. William Albert PALMER, Appellee.

No. 95-1458.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Sept. 18, 1996.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Susan M. Crawford, Assistant Attorney General, Thomas J. Ferguson, County Attorney, and Kasey Wadding, Assistant County Attorney, for appellant.

Carter Stevens of Beecher, Rathert, Roberts, Field, Walker & Morris, P.C., Waterloo, for appellee.

Considered by HARRIS, P.J., and LARSON, LAVORATO, NEUMAN, and TERNUS, JJ.

TERNUS, Justice.

Appellee, William Albert Palmer, was charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated in violation of Iowa Code section 321J.2 (1995). The district court granted Palmer's motion to suppress the results of a breath test administered after his arrest on the ground the arresting officer was not a "peace officer" as required by Iowa Code section 321J.6. We granted the State's application for interlocutory appeal and now affirm.

I. Statutory Framework.

We begin our discussion with a review of the applicable statutes in order to provide the proper context within which to consider the facts giving rise to this case. Palmer was charged with a violation of Iowa Code section 321J.2. This statute makes it an offense to operate a motor vehicle while under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or while having an alcohol concentration of .10 or more. Iowa Code § 321J.2(1). We have held the general purpose of chapter 321J "is to reduce the holocaust on our highways part of which is due to the driver who imbibes too freely of intoxicating liquor." Severson v Sueppel, 260 Iowa 1169, 1174, 152 N.W.2d 281, 284 (1967). ¹

To achieve this goal, chapter 321J provides authority for chemical testing of bodily substances from persons suspected of driving while intoxicated. See Iowa Code § 321J.6. This statute is known as Iowa's implied consent law. Severson, 260 Iowa at 1171, 152 N.W.2d at 283. The premise underlying implied consent is that "a driver impliedly agrees to submit to a test in return for the privilege of using the public highways." State v. Hitchens, 294 N.W.2d 686, 687 (Iowa 1980). In reality, however, the statute normally requires the express consent of the driver before a test is administered. See Iowa Code § 321J.9 (if person objects to test, test shall not be given). But see id. § 321J.7 (test may be given without person's express consent if person is dead, unconscious or otherwise incapable of giving consent). If the driver refuses the test, the State must revoke his or her driver's license. Id. § 321J.9.

Although the laudable goal of reducing deaths caused by drunk drivers could be most easily accomplished by the State's unfettered ability to invoke the implied consent law, the legislature has, nevertheless, placed limitations on the circumstances under which section 321J.6 applies. Only when the requirements of section 321J.6 have been met may the State make a suspected drunk driver choose between chemical testing for the presence of alcohol or the loss of his or her driver's license. State v. Hopkins, 465 N.W.2d 894, 895 (Iowa 1991).

We have held the statutory restrictions on the applicability of the implied consent law serve three purposes: (1) to protect the health of the person submitting to the test; (2) to guarantee the accuracy of the test; and (3) to protect citizens from indiscriminate testing or harassment. State v. Satern, 516 N.W.2d 839, 841 (Iowa 1994); Hopkins, 465 N.W.2d at 896; State v. Schlemme, 301 N.W.2d 721, 723 (Iowa 1981). These purposes are consistent with a sensitivity to the fact such tests invade the bodily integrity of citizens without the protection of a search warrant. See generally State v. Stanford, 474 N.W.2d 573, 575 (Iowa 1991) (Iowa's implied consent law constitutes an exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution).

Such warrantless searches of the person were first validated in Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 772, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 1836, 16 L.Ed.2d 908, 920 (1966). In that case, the United States Supreme Court considered whether withdrawal of blood from the petitioner, who had been arrested for drunk driving, violated the Fourth Amendment. Schmerber, 384 U.S. at 766, 86 S.Ct. at 1833, 16 L.Ed.2d at 917. In considering whether this warrantless intrusion into the petitioner's body was constitutional, the Court noted, "The overriding function of the Fourth Amendment is to protect personal privacy and dignity against unwarranted intrusion by the States." Id. at 767, 86 S.Ct. at 1834, 16 L.Ed.2d at 917. The Court concluded testing procedures such as blood tests "constitute searches of 'persons,' and depend antecedently upon seizures of 'persons,' within the meaning of [the Fourth] Amendment." Id. It held search warrants are ordinarily required "where intrusions into the human body are concerned." Id. at 770, 86 S.Ct. at 1835, 16 L.Ed.2d at 914.

Having concluded Fourth Amendment protections apply, the Supreme Court then considered whether the police were justified in requiring the petitioner in Schmerber to submit to a blood test in the absence of a warrant. Although the Court noted there clearly was probable cause for the petitioner's arrest, "the mere fact of a lawful arrest [did] not end [its] inquiry." Id. at 768-69, 86 S.Ct. at 1834-35, 16 L.Ed.2d at 919. The Court observed:

The interests in human dignity and privacy which the Fourth Amendment protects forbid any such intrusions on the mere chance that desired evidence might be obtained. In the absence of a clear indication that in fact such evidence will be found, these fundamental human interests require law officers to suffer the risk that such evidence may disappear unless there is an immediate search.

... The importance of informed, detached and deliberate determinations of the issue whether or not to invade another's body in search of evidence of guilt is indisputable and great.

Id. at 769-70, 86 S.Ct. at 1835, 16 L.Ed.2d at 919 (emphasis added).

The Court held the petitioner's right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures was not violated by the withdrawal of his blood for purposes of testing it for alcohol content. Id. at 770-71, 86 S.Ct. at 1835-36, 16 L.Ed.2d at 919-20. It noted any delay necessary to obtain a warrant would necessarily result in the destruction of evidence because the body naturally eliminates alcohol from the system. Id. at 770, 86 S.Ct. at 1835, 16 L.Ed.2d at 919. The Court also observed the test chosen was reasonable and was performed in a reasonable manner. Id. at 771, 86 S.Ct. at 1836, 16 L.Ed.2d at 920. Although the Court approved the warrantless invasion of the petitioner's body, it warned against ill-considered extensions of its decision:

We thus conclude that the present record shows no violation of petitioner's right under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures. It bears repeating, however, that we reach this judgment only on the facts of the present record. The integrity of an individual's person is a cherished value of our society. That we today hold that the Constitution does not forbid the States minor intrusions into an individual's body under stringently limited conditions in no way indicates that it permits more substantial intrusions, or intrusions under other conditions.

Id. at 772, 86 S.Ct. at 1836, 16 L.Ed.2d at 920 (emphasis added).

The Iowa legislature was sensitive to these concerns because in enacting Iowa's implied consent statute, the legislature incorporated limitations on the State's ability to conduct a warrantless search of a suspected drunk driver. Section 321J.6 contains the primary conditions limiting the circumstances under which Iowa peace officers may require submission to chemical testing. To rely on the implied consent authorized by section 321J.6, the State must show (1) the withdrawal of bodily substances and the chemical test were "administered at the written request of a peace officer having reasonable grounds to believe that the [defendant] was operating a motor vehicle in violation of section 321J.2" and (2) one of six specified conditions exists. Iowa Code § 321J.6(1). The relevant condition here is found in section 321J.6(1)(a): "A peace officer has lawfully placed the person under arrest for violation of section 321J.2." Id. § 321J.6(1)(a) (emphasis added).

The term "peace officer" bears special meaning under chapter 321J. See State v. Snider, 522 N.W.2d 815, 817 (Iowa 1994) (discussing differences in statutory definitions of "peace officer"); compare Iowa Code § 321J.1(7) (defining "peace officer" for purposes of chapter 321J) with id. § 321.1(50) (defining "peace officer" for purposes of chapter 321). A "peace officer" is defined in chapter 321J as

a. A member of the highway patrol.

b. A police officer under civil service as provided in chapter 400.

c. A sheriff.

d. A regular deputy sheriff who has had formal police training.

e. Any other law enforcement officer who has satisfactorily completed an approved course relating to motor vehicle operators under the influence of alcoholic beverages at the Iowa law enforcement academy or a law enforcement training program approved by the department of public safety.

Id. § 321J.1(7). In contrast, a "peace officer" for purposes of chapter 321 is defined more expansively to include "every officer authorized to direct or regulate traffic or to make arrests for violations of traffic regulations in addition to its meaning in section 801.4." Id. § 321.1(50). Iowa Code section 801.4 broadens the definition of "peace officer" to encompass parole officers, probation officers, conservation officers and special security officers employed by the board of regents. Id. § 801.4(11). A comparison of these statutory definitions makes apparent the legislature's intent that only the specified law enforcement officers could invoke implied consent. See id. § 321J.1(7).

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