State v. Reinier

• Decision Date: 31 May 2001
• Docket Number: No. 99-1963.,99-1963.
• Citation: 628 N.W.2d 460
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Tammy Jo REINIER, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

628 N.W.2d 460

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Tammy Jo REINIER, Appellant.

No. 99-1963.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

May 31, 2001.

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

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Kevin Cmelik, Assistant Attorney General, John P. Sarcone, County Attorney, and Stephanie Cox, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.

Considered en banc.

CADY, Justice.

This case presents the question whether a warrantless entry of a home by police officers based upon a "knock and talk" investigative encounter with the homeowner followed by a full search of the home conducted pursuant to the consent of the homeowner violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution. The district court found both the initial entry into the home by police and the subsequent search were accomplished by voluntary consent. The court of appeals determined the initial entry into the home by police was illegal, but the subsequent search was done with voluntary consent. On our review, we conclude the illegal entry into the home, in combination with the other surrounding circumstances, rendered the consent to search involuntary. We vacate the decision of the court of appeals, reverse the district court, and remand the case to the district court for further proceedings.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

In late November 1998, Des Moines police received a complaint of drug activity at a Kwik Shop on the east side of Des Moines. The complaint indicated Tammy Reinier, a Kwik Shop employee, was selling drugs. Two officers from the vice and narcotics unit of the police department were assigned to investigate the complaint. The officers initiated their investigation by conducting a surveillance of Reinier's home. Over the course of a week, however, they were unable to observe any evidence of drug activity at the house. The officers then decided to conduct a "knock and talk" investigation of Reinier's home.

On December 2, 1998, at approximately 6:00 p.m., the officers approached Reinier's house and knocked on the front door. They wanted to determine if Reinier would talk about the complaint and give them consent to search her house for evidence of drug activity.

The front door of Reinier's house included a screen door which opened out and a heavy solid wood door which opened into a room described as a porch. The wood door was secured with a deadbolt lock. The outside walls of the porch had the same siding as the remainder of the house and the roof of the porch also conformed to the roof of the remainder of the house. The porch had glass-encased windows with blinds. There was another heavy wooden door which led from the porch area into the living room of the home.

The officers were not in uniform at the time of the "knock and talk" encounter. It was dark outside. One of the officers carried a consent-to-search form attached to a clipboard.

When Reinier walked into the porch to open the front door, she closed the door leading to the living room to prevent her dog from coming onto the porch. She then opened the wooden door to the porch. The officers felt Reinier invited them into the porch by opening the door. They described Reinier as opening the door "wide." Without asking to enter, the two officers stepped inside the porch.¹ As they entered, Reinier appeared curious and surprised at their presence. The officers then identified themselves as Des Moines police and explained to Reinier that they were investigating a narcotics complaint involving methamphetamine. One of the officers told Reinier they preferred to investigate drug complaints by going to the suspect's home and, instead of obtaining a warrant, simply looking around the house to rule out bogus or petty use complaints. The officers further indicated they were concerned with major drug dealers and drug labs, and asked Reinier if they could look around her house and search the basement for a drug lab. Before Reinier responded, one of the officers also asked if she had any drugs or drug paraphernalia in the house. She acknowledged that she did. The officers reiterated that they were not concerned about the petty use of drugs and again asked to look through the house. The officers also told Reinier that because she had acknowledged that there were drugs inside, they now had probable cause to apply for a warrant. Reinier consented to a search.

The officers then asked Reinier if they could go into the living room where there was more light. Reinier invited the officers into the living room. The officers immediately observed a scale and a bag of methamphetamine on the coffee table when they walked into the living room. One of the officers read the written consent form to Reinier and she signed the form after again reading it herself. A subsequent search of the house revealed additional drugs other than those observed in the living room.

Reinier was charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, conspiracy to deliver drugs, possession of marijuana, and failure to possess a drug tax stamp. She moved to suppress the drugs found in her home. The district court denied the motion and the case proceeded to a bench trial. The court found Reinier guilty of all charges except the conspiracy count and sentenced her to a term of incarceration not to exceed twenty-five years on each of the two possession with intent to deliver counts, in addition to shorter prison terms on the other drug offenses, to be served concurrently.

Reinier appealed. We transferred the case to the court of appeals, which determined that the district court correctly denied the motion to suppress because the search of the home was accomplished by voluntary consent. We granted further review.

II. Scope of Review.

We employ a de novo review when resolving issues involving constitutional claims. See State v. Campbell, 326 N.W.2d 350, 352 (Iowa 1982)

. The record we consider includes both the evidence from the trial as well as from the suppression hearing. State v. Vincik, 436 N.W.2d 350, 353 (Iowa 1989).

III. Search of the Premises.

Law enforcement officials pursue a variety of investigative techniques in an effort to gather information in the course of investigating crimes and complaints of crimes, including searching property for evidence of criminal activity. While courts recognize the vital need for law enforcement agencies to gather information and evidence of crimes and to utilize new techniques and technology to do so, the Fourth Amendment exists to protect the right of the people to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures by government officials and limits the means police can use to gather evidence. The Fourth Amendment provides:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath and affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

This same fundamental right of privacy is found in article I, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution.

It is axiomatic that the chief evil sought to be addressed by the Fourth Amendment was the physical entry of the home. United States v. United States Dist. Ct., 407 U.S. 297, 313, 92 S.Ct. 2125, 2134, 32 L.Ed.2d 752, 764 (1972). Although the Fourth Amendment protects the privacy of an individual in a variety of settings, none is "more clearly defined than when bounded by the unambiguous physical dimensions of an individual's home." Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 589, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 1381-82, 63 L.Ed.2d 639, 653 (1980). The special sanctity of the home has deep roots in our history, and "the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion" lies at the very core of the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 589-90, 100 S.Ct. at 1382, 63 L.Ed.2d at 653 (citation omitted). Thus, "[i]t is a `basic principle of Fourth Amendment law' that [all] searches and seizures inside a home without a warrant are presumptively unreasonable." Id. at 586, 100 S.Ct. at 1380, 63 L.Ed.2d at 651 (citation omitted); see Welsh v. Wisconsin, 466 U.S. 740, 749, 104 S.Ct. 2091, 2097, 80 L.Ed.2d 732, 742 (1984)

.

The principal protection against the unreasonable intrusion into a home by government officials is the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment. See United States Dist. Ct., 407 U.S. at 313, 92 S.Ct. at 2134, 32 L.Ed.2d at 764. The judicial scrutiny required for the issuance of a warrant helps minimize the risk of unreasonable intrusion into the privacy of a home. Payton, 445 U.S. at 585, 100 S.Ct. at 1379-80, 63 L.Ed.2d at 650. Thus, searches of homes conducted outside the judicial process are per se unreasonable and will not be sanctioned, "subject only to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions." Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 454-55, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 2032, 29 L.Ed.2d 564, 576 (1971) (citation omitted).

One well-established exception to the warrant requirement is a search conducted by consent.²Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 219, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 2043-44, 36 L.Ed.2d 854, 858 (1973). A warrantless search conducted by free and voluntary consent does not violate the Fourth Amendment. See id.; State v. King, 191 N.W.2d 650, 655 (Iowa 1971)

.

Consent is considered to be voluntary when it is given without duress or coercion, either express or implied. See Schneckloth, 412 U.S. at 225-26,

93 S.Ct. at 2047,

36 L.Ed.2d at 862. This test balances the competing interests of legitimate and effective police practices against our society's deep fundamental belief that the criminal law cannot be used unfairly. See id. at 224-25, 93 S.Ct. at 2046-47, 36 L.Ed.2d at 861. Thus, the concept of voluntariness which emerges as the test for consent...