State v. Reinders

• Court: Iowa Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: TERNUS, Justice.
• Citation: State v. Reinders, 690 N.W.2d 78 (Iowa 2004)
• Decision Date: 17 December 2004
• Docket Number: No. 02-1932.,02-1932.
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Todd H. REINDERS, Appellant.

690 N.W.2d 78

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Todd H. REINDERS, Appellant.

No. 02-1932.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

December 17, 2004.

Linda Del Gallo, State Appellate Defender, and David Arthur Adams, Assistant Appellate Defender, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Darrel L. Mullins, Assistant Attorney General, John P. Sarcone, County Attorney, and Charles Kenville, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.

TERNUS, Justice.

In his criminal prosecution for possession of a controlled substance, the defendant, Todd Reinders, sought to suppress evidence discovered by the police when officers questioned him and searched him after observing him walking along a city street in the middle of the night. The district court overruled his motion to suppress, and he was subsequently convicted of the drug charge. His conviction was affirmed by the court of appeals and this court granted further review. Upon our review of the record and consideration of the parties' arguments, we affirm.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

On July 23, 2002, at approximately 2:30 a.m., two Urbandale police officers were traveling in the 7400 block of Hickman Road in Urbandale, Iowa when they noticed the defendant walking westward. No businesses were open at this hour, and the defendant was not dressed in typical workout attire. Based upon these facts and the officers' knowledge there had been numerous car burglaries in the area, the officers decided to approach the defendant and talk to him.

The patrolmen, Officer Meskimen and Officer Dobbins, stopped their vehicle several feet behind the defendant and approached the defendant on foot as he walked through a K-Mart parking lot. The officers questioned the defendant about what he was doing and explained they were asking because there had been recent burglaries in the area. Reinders told the officers that he was walking home from a friend's house. The officers then asked for identification, but the defendant had none. In response to the officers' request, the defendant supplied them with a false name, birth date, and social security number. Officer Dobbins then went to the patrol car to check on whether there were any outstanding arrest warrants for the name given by Reinders.

About this time a third patrolman, Officer Pettit, arrived. He had just finished a traffic stop and came to the scene when he noticed the other officers were talking to the defendant. Pettit joined Meskimen as Meskimen was questioning the defendant.

According to Officer Meskimen, he — Meskimen — asked the defendant if the defendant had any weapons on him, and Reinders replied that he had a kitchen knife in his pocket. Meskimen then asked whether he could search the defendant's pockets, and the defendant said he could. At this point Reinders started to pull the knife out of his pocket, but Meskimen told the defendant he — Meskimen — would retrieve the knife. Meskimen then took the knife out of the defendant's pocket. Meskimen testified that since Reinders had consented to a search of his pockets, Meskimen reached in a second time and pulled out some foil that contained a powdery substance later identified as methamphetamine.

Officer Pettit had a slightly different recollection. He agreed that Officer Meskimen had asked the defendant whether the defendant had any weapons, and the defendant had responded that he had a kitchen knife in his pocket. When Reinders proceeded to pull the knife out of his pocket, Meskimen told Reinders that he — Meskimen — would retrieve the knife. After obtaining Reinders' permission to do so, Meskimen reached into the defendant's pocket and pulled out the knife. According to Officer Pettit, Meskimen asked the defendant if he had anything else they should be concerned about, and the defendant said no. Meskimen then asked Reinders if Meskimen could search the defendant, and Reinders responded, "go ahead and search," or something to that effect, simultaneously raising his arms. Meskimen then discovered the foil packet in Reinders' pocket.

Officer Dobbins filed a written report of the incident, and his report coincides more closely with the testimony of Officer Meskimen. Dobbins stated in his report:

Officer Meskimen then asked the suspect if he had any weapons on him. Suspect stated that he did have a kitchen knife on him in his pocket. Officer Meskimen then asked the suspect if he could have permission [to] search his pockets, the subject stated "yes." Officer Meskimen then retrieved the knife and a piece of foil containing a pink powdery substance to wit: Methamphetamine.

Reinders was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance in violation of Iowa Code section 124.401(5) (2001). He filed a motion to suppress the drugs found in his pocket, asserting the stop and search violated his constitutional right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures. The defendant argued in his motion that a reasonable person in his position would not have felt free to leave when asked for identification. He also contended in his motion that he had not given consent to a search of his pocket.

The court overruled the defendant's motion to suppress, concluding the officers were justified in stopping the defendant because there was "cause to reasonably believe there might have been criminal activity involved [based on] the time of night, location of the defendant, [and] recent criminal activity." The court found the later search of Reinders' pocket was consensual.

The case was subsequently submitted to the court for a trial on the minutes of testimony. The court found the defendant guilty as charged, gave him a suspended sentence, and placed him on probation for one year. Reinders filed this appeal, which we transferred to the court of appeals. That court concluded the defendant was not seized during his questioning by the officers, and the search of his pocket did not violate Reinders' constitutional rights because he had consented to the search. We granted Reinders' application for further review.

II. General Principles of Law.

"The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution protect persons from unreasonable searches and seizures." State v. Cline, 617 N.W.2d 277, 281 (Iowa 2000),overruled on other grounds by State v. Turner, 630 N.W.2d 601, 606 n. 2 (Iowa 2001). Evidence obtained in violation of these provisions is inadmissible "no matter how relevant or probative the evidence may be." State v. Predka, 555 N.W.2d 202, 205 (Iowa 1996). Because the federal and state search-and-seizure clauses are nearly identical, the construction of the federal constitution is persuasive in our interpretation of the state provision. See State v. Olsen, 293 N.W.2d 216, 219 (Iowa 1980) (citing Bierkamp v. Rogers, 293 N.W.2d 577, 579 (Iowa 1980)). Decisions of the United States Supreme Court interpreting the Fourth Amendment are not, however, binding on this court with respect to the Iowa Constitution. Id. Because we have found no basis to distinguish the protections afforded by the Iowa Constitution from those afforded by the federal constitution under the facts of this case, our discussion of the merits of the defendant's suppression motion applies equally to the state and federal grounds. See State v. Lewis, 675 N.W.2d 516, 522 (Iowa 2004).

This court's review of a district court's ruling on a claim that the State has violated a defendant's constitutional right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures is de novo. State v. Maddox, 670 N.W.2d 168, 171 (Iowa 2003). In assessing alleged violations of constitutional rights, we independently evaluate the totality of the circumstances shown in the record. Cline, 617 N.W.2d at 280. We give deference to the district court's findings of fact "due to its opportunity to assess the credibility of witnesses, but we are not bound by those findings." Turner, 630 N.W.2d at 606. The State must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a search or seizure was lawful. State v. Bumpus, 459 N.W.2d 619, 622 (Iowa 1990).

III. Legality of Stop.

"`The Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable intrusions on a person's liberty arises when an officer seizes a person.'" State v. Pickett, 573 N.W.2d 245, 247 (Iowa 1997) (citation omitted). "A seizure occurs when an officer by means of physical force or show of authority in some way restrains the liberty of a citizen." Id. Police questioning by itself, however, is generally not a seizure. See Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial Dist. Ct., 542 U.S. ___, ___, 124 S.Ct. 2451, 2458, 159 L.Ed.2d 292, 302 (2004); INS v. Delgado, 466 U.S. 210, 216, 104 S.Ct. 1758, 1762, 80 L.Ed.2d 247, 255 (1984). The United States Supreme Court has held:

Law enforcement officers do not violate the Fourth Amendment's prohibition of unreasonable seizures merely by approaching individuals on the street or in other public places and putting questions to them if they are willing to listen. Even when law enforcement officers have no basis for suspecting a particular individual, they may pose questions, ask for identification, and request consent to search luggage — provided they do not induce cooperation by coercive means.

United States v. Drayton, 536 U.S. 194, 200-01, 122 S.Ct. 2105, 2110, 153 L.Ed.2d 242, 251 (2002). An individual's response in such situations is considered consensual, even though the person has not been advised that he is free to refuse to respond. Id. at 203, 122 S.Ct. at 2112, 153 L.Ed.2d at 253; Delgado, 466 U.S. at 216, 104 S.Ct. at 1762, 80 L.Ed.2d at 255. "Unless the circumstances of the encounter are so intimidating as to demonstrate that a reasonable person would have believed he was not free to leave if he had not responded, one cannot say that the questioning resulted in a detention under the Fourth Amendment." Delgado, 466 U.S. at 216, 104 S.Ct. at 1763, 80 L.Ed.2d at 255. Clearly, though, when a citizen exercises his right to refuse to...