State v. Wagner

• Decision Date: 19 December 1984
• Docket Number: No. 83-1273,83-1273
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Dennis WAGNER, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 487

359 N.W.2d 487

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Dennis WAGNER, Appellant.

No. 83-1273.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Dec. 19, 1984.

Charles L. Harrington, Appellate Defender, and John P. Messina, Asst. Appellate Defender, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., and Lona Hansen, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

Considered by REYNOLDSON, C.J., and UHLENHOPP, McCORMICK, CARTER, and WOLLE, JJ.

CARTER, Justice.

Defendant, Dennis Wagner, appeals from conviction and sentence on three counts of involuntary manslaughter in violation of Iowa Code section 707.5(1) (1981). The charges against him grow out of an automobile accident which occurred when the motor vehicle defendant was operating left the roadway. Three passengers in the automobile were killed in the resulting crash. Evidence was offered at the trial that defendant had been consuming alcoholic beverages prior to the accident.

On appeal, defendant asserts that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of a chemical test obtained by an Iowa peace officer in the state of Wisconsin in apparent reliance on the implied consent procedures applicable under Iowa law. He also urges that the trial court erred in failing to exercise proper discretion in sentencing him to three concurrent prison sentences.

The evidence offered at the trial consisted of the testimony of one witness called by the State and a stipulation of the parties concerning the testimony of certain other witnesses. The evidence which was thus presented indicates that defendant and others had been drinking in a bar in Monona, Iowa, between 10 p.m. on September 23, 1982 and 1 a.m. on the following day. During this time, defendant consumed five or six alcoholic drinks described as "screwdrivers." At about 2 a.m., defendant and others journeyed from Monona to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in defendant's automobile. Someone other than the defendant was driving at the time.

In Prairie du Chien, defendant's companions ate at a restaurant, but the evidence indicates that defendant did not partake of any food. After his companions finished eating, they and defendant drove back across the bridge from Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin to Clayton County, Iowa. Defendant was driving at this time. Soon after reaching the Iowa side of the river, defendant lost control of his automobile causing it to leave the road. In the resulting collision, three passengers in defendant's automobile were killed.

The first peace officer on the scene was the sheriff of Clayton County, Iowa, who ascertained from questioning defendant that the latter had been driving the automobile involved in the fatal collision and had been drinking. The sheriff then obtained transportation for defendant to the hospital in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin in order that defendant might receive treatment for his injuries. An Iowa state trooper with whom radio contact had been made was advised that a personal injury accident involving suspected drinking had occurred. Upon being advised where the driver had been taken, the trooper proceeded to the hospital in Wisconsin. He then proceeded to invoke the implied consent procedures applicable under 1982 Iowa Acts chapter 1167, section 15.

The defendant, upon request of the trooper, consented to the withdrawal of a specimen of his blood for purposes of chemical testing to determine the concentration of alcohol therein contained. Such test was performed at the written request of the trooper by medical technologists at the Wisconsin hospital. The results indicated that defendant's blood contained a concentration of .225% of alcohol by weight.

Prior to trial, the defendant moved to suppress the results of the chemical test of his blood on the grounds that an Iowa peace officer had no authority to invoke the implied consent procedures contained in Iowa law at a location outside of the boundaries of this state. This motion was denied by the trial court.

The case proceeded to trial before the court without a jury. The results of the challenged chemical test were admitted as evidence for the State. The trial court found the defendant was guilty of three counts of manslaughter and imposed three concurrent prison sentences.

I. Authority of Iowa Peace Officer to Invoke Implied Consent Procedure for Chemical Testing Outside the State of Iowa.

Defendant's first point on appeal is that an Iowa state trooper is without authority to invoke the implied consent procedures contained in Iowa Code chapter 321B at a location outside this state. From this premise, it is urged that evidence of the chemical test of defendant's blood which was obtained by means of chapter 321B procedures should have been suppressed.

In support of this contention, defendant urges that a peace officer, acting in his official capacity, may make an arrest only within the state from which his activity is derived. An arrest in a foreign state is unlawful, defendant claims, unless it can be justified as an arrest by a private person under the laws of the state where the arrest is made. We have recognized the principles upon which defendant's argument proceeds in State v. O'Kelly, 211 N.W.2d 589, 595 (Iowa 1973), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 936, 94 S.Ct. 2652, 41 L.Ed.2d 240 (1974) and Drake v. Keeling, 230 Iowa 1038, 1046-47, 299 N.W. 919, 922 (1941).

The significance of the limitations which the law places on extraterritorial arrest powers is diminished in the present case because the propriety of the implied consent procedure does not turn on the state trooper's authority to arrest the defendant. The present charge is...