State v. Wagner

• Citation: 596 N.W.2d 83
• Decision Date: 08 July 1999
• Docket Number: No. 97-1795.,97-1795.
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Everett Ray WAGNER, Appellant.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Iowa

596 N.W.2d 83

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Everett Ray WAGNER, Appellant.

No. 97-1795.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

July 8, 1999.

Linda Del Gallo, State Appellate Defender, and John P. Messina, Assistant State Appellate Defender, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Thomas S. Tauber and Robert J. Glaser, Assistant Attorneys General, for appellee.

Considered en banc.

TERNUS, Justice.

This case presents one issue: does the State of Iowa have criminal jurisdiction to prosecute a defendant in the constructive custody of the State for an escape that occurred in Texas? Although the district court held that the State did have jurisdiction, we find no Iowa statute that would authorize the prosecution of an escape offense that took place outside Iowa's geographical borders. Therefore, we reverse and remand.

I. Factual and Procedural Background.

The facts are not in dispute. Prior to the commission of the crime in question, the defendant, Everett Wagner, was an inmate at the Iowa State Penitentiary. Wagner and five other inmates were to be transported from Iowa to a prison in New Mexico pursuant to the Interstate Corrections Compact (ICC), Iowa Code chapter 913 (1995). (This statute authorizes the State to contract for the confinement of Iowa prisoners in out-of-state penal institutions.) The State hired a private business, R & S Prisoner Transport (R & S), to transfer the prisoners.

While in transit from Iowa to New Mexico, the inmates escaped from the custody of R & S. The group was traveling through Texas at the time of the escape and Texas authorities quickly captured the prisoners. Although Wagner was initially charged with escape by the State of Texas, this prosecution was dismissed for reasons not apparent in the record.

The State of Iowa then charged Wagner with escape in violation of Iowa Code section 719.4(1).¹ Wagner filed a motion to dismiss, claiming that the offense charged was not punishable under the laws of Iowa because the alleged crime occurred in Texas. This motion was overruled by District Court Judge R. David Fahey and, thereafter, a jury found Wagner guilty of escape. After finding Wagner to be an habitual offender, District Court Judge William L. Dowell sentenced Wagner to a prison term not to exceed fifteen years. Wagner appealed.

II. Issues on Appeal and Scope of Review.

On appeal, Wagner reasserts his challenge to the district court's jurisdiction. The State attempts to sustain the district court's ruling on two grounds: (1) Iowa's criminal jurisdiction statute, Iowa Code section 803.1, authorizes Wagner's prosecution in Iowa for his Texas escape; and (2) criminal jurisdiction of this crime is authorized by the ICC, Iowa Code chapter 913.

To the extent the resolution of this appeal turns on the interpretation of a statute, the court's review is for errors of law. See State v. Francois, 577 N.W.2d 417, 417 (Iowa 1998). Issues of the jurisdiction and authority of the district court are also legal issues reviewed on error. See Wycoff v. Iowa Dist. Ct., 580 N.W.2d 786, 787 (Iowa 1998).

III. Territorial Jurisdiction.

A. General principles of criminal jurisdiction. This case turns on whether the State of Iowa has jurisdiction to prosecute an escape that did not occur within its geographical boundaries. The term "jurisdiction" in this sense does not refer to the authority of the Iowa courts "to try an offense of a certain kind." 2 Wayne R. LaFave & Jerold H. Israel, Criminal Procedure § 16.2(a), at 342 (1984) [hereinafter "LaFave"]. Nor does it refer to the power of the court to try a certain person. See id. Rather, the word jurisdiction in the context of this case refers to the power of the State of Iowa "to create criminal law, especially with respect to the permissible geographical scope of penal legislation." Id. We refer to this aspect of jurisdiction as the State's criminal or territorial jurisdiction.

Because the State's "territorial jurisdiction is an essential element of the crime," the State bears the burden to establish jurisdiction. State v. Liggins, 524 N.W.2d 181, 184-85 (Iowa 1994). Wagner claims the State cannot meet this burden because the legislature has not enacted any criminal law that would punish an escape occurring outside its territorial borders.

Under the common law, "jurisdiction to subject an accused to criminal prosecution rest[ed] in the courts of the state in which the crime was committed." Id. at 184. The application of this principle is illustrated in the landmark case of State v. Hall, 114 N.C. 909, 19 S.E. 602 (1894). In Hall, the North Carolina court considered its jurisdiction of two defendants who had fired shots while standing in North Carolina, hitting the deceased in Tennessee. 19 S.E. at 602. The court held that under the common law, the State of Tennessee had jurisdiction of the murder because that is where the death giving rise to the offense occurred. Id. at 604. It remarked, however, that although the criminal laws of North Carolina did not apply outside the state's borders, "it is competent for the legislature to determine what acts within the limits of the state shall be deemed criminal, and to provide for their punishment." Id. at 606. Finding no North Carolina law that would encompass a homicide occurring in another state, the North Carolina Supreme Court reversed the defendants' convictions. Id. at 605.²

Since the Hall decision, many states have enacted laws to more specifically define, from the perspective of territorial jurisdiction, when an offense violates the criminal laws of that state. See 2 LaFave § 16.2, at 349-50. Iowa adopted such a statute, patterned in part on the Model Penal Code. Compare Iowa Code § 803.1, with Model Penal Code § 1.03 (1985). We now turn to Iowa's criminal jurisdiction statute, section 803.1, to ascertain whether it authorizes the prosecution before us.

B. The criminal jurisdiction statute— section 803.1. The portion of section 803.1 upon which the State relies makes a person subject to prosecution in Iowa if "[t]he offense is committed either wholly or partly in Iowa." Iowa Code § 803.1(1)(a). The statute further defines when a crime is committed partly in Iowa: "if conduct which is an element of the offense, or a result which constitutes an element of the offense, occurs within this state." Id. § 803.1(2). Thus, the court must examine the facts of the present case to determine whether conduct or a result of conduct constituting an element of the crime of escape took place in Iowa.

The crime of escape has three elements: (1) the defendant is "[a] person convicted of a felony"; (2) who "intentionally escapes"; (3) "from the custody of any public officer or employee to whom the person has been entrusted." Id. § 719.4(1). The State argues that because the defendant's underlying felony occurred in Iowa, the first element of the escape offense took place here. But the first element of the crime of escape does not require proof that the defendant committed a felony; it merely requires proof that the defendant is a felon. In other words, the first element does not describe "conduct," as contemplated by section 803.1(2); rather, it describes a status. Compare Webster's Third New Int'l Dictionary 474 (unabr. ed.1993) (defining "conduct" as "behavior in a particular situation or relation or on a specified occasion" (emphasis added)), with id. at 2230 (defining "status" as "the condition (as arising out of ... crime ... ) of a person that determines the nature of his legal personality, his legal capacities, and the nature of the legal relations to the state" (emphasis added)).

The State argues alternatively that Wagner's placement in the custody of Iowa authorities occurred in Iowa. But Wagner's placement in custody is not an element of the offense. Similar to Wagner's status as a felon, Wagner's placement in custody is merely a condition that must exist in order for Wagner to escape from custody. In other words, the conduct that constitutes an element of the crime is the defendant's escape from custody, not the defendant's placement in custody. Finally, the State argues that as a general principle the State should be able to protect its interest in punishing defendants who escape from its custody. In considering this argument, it is important to note that the General Assembly did not adopt the following portion of the Model Penal Code that would allow prosecution of a crime in this state where

the offense is based on a statute of this State that expressly prohibits conduct outside the State, when the conduct bears a reasonable relation to a legitimate interest of this State and the actor knows or should know that the conduct is likely to affect that interest.

Model Penal Code § 1.03(1)(f). The State would have the court read into section 803.1 a broader variation of this provision from the Model Penal Code. But principles of statutory construction prevent us from reading into the statute something the legislature has not included. See State v. Guzman-Juarez, 591 N.W.2d 1, 2 (Iowa 1999) (refusing "to read something into the law that is not apparent from the words chosen by the legislature"); Henriksen v. Younglove Constr., 540 N.W.2d 254, 258 (Iowa 1995) ("When the text of a statute is plain and its meaning clear, the court should not search for a meaning beyond the express terms of the statute...." (Emphasis added.)). Thus, the focus of any application of section 803.1(1)(a) is on where the conduct or a result of the conduct constituting an element of the offense took place, not on whether the State of Iowa has a legitimate interest in that conduct or its consequences.

In summary, we conclude neither conduct nor a result of conduct constituting an element of the crime of escape occurred in Iowa. Therefore, the offense allegedly committed by Wagner does not fall within the scope of section 803.1. Consequently, the State must look beyond the statutory principles of territorial...