State v. Wing

• Decision Date: 03 December 2010
• Docket Number: No. 08-1048.,08-1048.
• Citation: 791 N.W.2d 243
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Jason Allen WING, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

791 N.W.2d 243 STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Jason Allen WING, Appellant. No. 08-1048. Supreme Court of Iowa. Dec. 3, 2010.

Mark C. Smith, State Appellate Defender, and Stephan J. Japuntich, Assistant State Appellate Defender, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Kyle Hanson, Assistant Attorney General, Michael J. Walton, County Attorney, and Robert Weinberg, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.

HECHT, Justice.

In this case we are asked to determine whether the defendant's encounter with law enforcement amounted to an arrest for purposes of the speedy indictment rule. We conclude it did.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

On July 7, 2007, Detective Lansing of the Davenport Police Department received a tip that Jason Wing was going to transport a large quantity of marijuana across the city. As a result, Lansing and other members of the Tactical Operations Bureau set up surveillance of Wing's house. After a short time, they observed Wing exit the house, place a package in the trunk of a red Pontiac, and get into the passenger side of the vehicle. Brandi Basden entered the vehicle on the driver's side and drove away. Lansing contacted Officer Schertz, who was driving a marked patrol car, explained the situation, and asked him to execute a traffic stop of the vehicle driven by Basden. Schertz located the vehicle, determined the registration was expired, and pulled it over.

Officer Schertz approached the car and told Basden that her registration was expired. Schertz also asked Wing for identification, which Wing readily produced. When Basden stepped out of the car to sign the citation, Schertz asked if he could search the car, and she agreed. Officer Schertz instructed Wing to get out of the car, patted down both Wing and Basden, and directed them to stand on the sidewalk "or do whatever." ¹ After searching the interior of the car, Schertz searched thetrunk and located a box containing a brick of marijuana.² Officer Schertz left the box in the trunk, but asked Basden to sit in the back of the patrol car. Wing asked Schertz if he had found the drugs, and Schertz said, "Yeah, I found the pot in the trunk of [the] car." Wing admitted ownership of the marijuana. Immediately, Officer Schertz said, "What's that? It's yours? Okay, Jason, at this time, you have the right to remain silent." Schertz informed Wing of his rights, handcuffed him, conducted another more thorough pat down search, and placed him in the backseat of the patrol car.³ Basden, who had not been Mirandized or handcuffed, was allowed to get out of the patrol car.

Detective Proehl, who had been working on the Tactical Operations Bureau with Detective Lansing and had observed the traffic stop from a short distance away, arrived at the scene of the traffic stop moments after Wing was placed in the patrol car. Proehl asked if Wing had been Mirandized, and Schertz explained what had taken place: "He asked me if I found that pot, and I said 'yeah,' and he said 'it's mine, don't charge her with it, it's mine.' So I Mirandized him right then and there, and put him in the back of the car."

Detective Proehl got into the patrol car with Wing and asked Wing about the marijuana. Wing again admitted ownership of the contraband. Proehl asked for, and Wing granted, permission to search Wing's house. Proehl then asked Schertz to drive Wing to Wing's house. Using police codes, Schertz asked Proehl if Wing was being arrested. Proehl responded that Wing was a "10-59," meaning the officers were "giving [him] a ride somewhere." The officers removed Wing's handcuffs before they transported him to his house and undertook the search. ⁴

When they arrived at Wing's house, Schertz left while Proehl and Wing entered the house. Wing signed a form consenting to the search. During the search, in which additional incriminating evidence was found, Proehl inquired whether Wing would be interested in cooperating with law enforcement in other drug investigations. Wing indicated he was interested. At the conclusion of the search, Proehl gave Wing an inventory of the seized items and a business card. Proehl told Wing to call him.

Wing apparently did not call Proehl. After about five months, a criminal complaint was filed against Wing on December18, 2007, and a trial information was filed on January 11, 2008.

Wing filed a motion to dismiss for failure to comply with Iowa Rule of Criminal Procedure 2.33(2)( a) which requires an indictment be filed within forty-five days of an arrest, arguing he had been arrested on July 7, 2007. After a hearing on the motion, the district court concluded Wing had not been arrested during his encounter with law enforcement in July and rule 2.33 had not been violated. Wing agreed to a trial on the minutes of testimony and was convicted of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Wing appealed, contending his right to a speedy indictment was violated. We transferred the case to the court of appeals, which affirmed the district court's ruling and the resulting conviction. We granted Wing's application for further review.

II. Scope of Review.

We review a district court's decision regarding a motion to dismiss for lack of speedy indictment for correction of errors at law. State v. Dennison, 571 N.W.2d 492, 494 (Iowa 1997). We are bound by the findings of fact of the district court if they are supported by substantial evidence. State v. Lyrek, 385 N.W.2d 248, 250 (Iowa 1986).

III. Discussion.

Wing contends that for purposes of the speedy indictment rule, he was arrested during his encounter with police on July 7, 2007, and a timely indictment should have been filed on or before August 22, 2007.⁵ Instead, the complaint was filed in December 2007, and the trial information was not filed until January 11, 2008, roughly six months after Wing's encounter with law enforcement.

The parties do not dispute the applicable law or its interpretation. Rather they disagree about how the specific facts of Wing's case fit into the framework established by our court rules, the Iowa Code, and our case law applying these provisions.

Our analysis must begin with the speedy indictment rule itself.

It is the public policy of the state of Iowa that criminal prosecutions be concluded at the earliest possible time consistent with a fair trial to both parties....

a. When an adult is arrested for the commission of a public offense ... and an indictment is not found against the defendant within 45 days, the court must order the prosecution to be dismissed, unless good cause to the contrary is shown or the defendant waives the defendant's right thereto.

Iowa R.Crim. P. 2.33(2)( a ). The speedy indictment rule, and its counterpart, the speedy trial rule articulated in rule 2.33(2)( b ), implement federal and state constitutional speedy trial guarantees. State v. Cennon, 201 N.W.2d 715, 718 (Iowa 1972); State v. Deases, 476 N.W.2d 91, 95 (Iowa Ct.App.1991). The purpose of both the criminal procedural rules and the constitutional provisions is to "relieve an accused of the anxiety associated with a suspended prosecution and provide reasonably prompt administration of justice." State v. Delockroy, 559 N.W.2d 43, 46 (Iowa Ct.App.1996); see also State v. Allnutt, 261 Iowa 897, 901, 156 N.W.2d 266, 268 (1968), overruled on other grounds by State v. Gorham, 206 N.W.2d 908, 913 (Iowa 1973). The speedy indictment andspeedy trial rules also aim to prevent the harm that arises from the "possible impairment of the accused's defense due to diminished memories and loss of exculpatory evidence." State v. Olson, 528 N.W.2d 651, 654 (Iowa Ct.App.1995). This type of harm is the "most serious," because "the inability of a defendant adequately to prepare his case skews the fairness of the entire system." Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 532, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 2193, 33 L.Ed.2d 101, 118 (1972).

Before 1978, the time for speedy indictment began to run when "a person [was] held to answer for a public offense." Iowa Code § 795.1 (1975) (emphasis added). In 1976, the General Assembly rewrote the Iowa Criminal Code, and section 795.1 became Iowa Rule of Criminal Procedure 27 (now rule 2.33), providing that the speedy indictment clock begins running when a person is " arrested for the commission of a public offense." 1976 Iowa Acts ch. 1245(2), § 1301 (codified at Iowa Code ch. 813, r. 27 (1979)) (emphasis added). The new Iowa Criminal Code also reworked provisions defining arrest. Id. §§ 401-429 (codified at Iowa Code ch. 804 (Supp.1977)).

It is a well-settled rule of statutory construction that statutes relating to the same subject matter shall be construed together, particularly if the statutes were passed in the same legislative session. Therefore, we define "arrest" in [rule 2.33] to be the same as the definition provided in section 804.5, as explained in section 804.14.

State v. Schmitt, 290 N.W.2d 24, 26 (Iowa 1980) (citations omitted). ⁶

An arrest "is the taking of a person into custody when and in the manner authorized by law, including restraint of the person or the person's submission to custody." Iowa Code § 804.5 (2007).

The person making the arrest must inform the person to be arrested of the intention to arrest the person, the reason for arrest, and that the person making the arrest is a peace officer, if such be the case, and require the person being arrested to submit to the person's custody, except when the person to be arrested is actually engaged in the commission of or attempt to commit an offense, or escapes, so that there is no time or opportunity to do so....

Iowa Code § 804.14.⁷

Despite the seemingly rigid notification requirements described insection 804.14, we have consistently acknowledged that not all seizures by law enforcement officers must meet such strict conditions to constitute an arrest. "No formal announcement is required, as long as [the person making the arrest] sufficiently conveys, either through words or conduct, the intent to perform a[n] ... arrest."...