Voyles v. City of Nampa, 11764

• Citation: 97 Idaho 597,548 P.2d 1217
• Decision Date: 22 April 1976
• Docket Number: No. 11764,11764
• Parties: Allen Edward VOYLES, Petitioner-Appellant, v. The CITY OF NAMPA, Idaho, a Municipal Corporation, and Buster Baker, Chief of Police, Nampa, Idaho, Defendants-Respondents.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Idaho

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548 P.2d 1217 97 Idaho 597 Allen Edward VOYLES, Petitioner-Appellant,
v.
The CITY OF NAMPA, Idaho, a Municipal Corporation, and Buster Baker, Chief of Police, Nampa, Idaho, Defendants-Respondents. No. 11764. Supreme Court of Idaho. April 22, 1976.

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[97 Idaho 598] James E. Schiller, of Schiller, Williams & Trabert, Nampa, for petitioner-appellant.

Reese E. Verner, Carl D. Hamilton, Nampa, for defendants-respondents.

McFADDEN, Chief Justice.

Allen E. Voyles, the appellant, brought this action before the district court on a writ of habeas corpus after his arrest for an alleged violation of Nampa City Code § 6-1-27, which provides:

'Any person who shall be drunk or intoxicated in a private motor vehicle while said vehicle is located upon any public or private road or street or upon any other place to which the public has, or is permitted to have access, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. A 'public place' as defined in this Section, includes any place, building, or conveyance, to which the public has, or is permitted to have, access, and any place, highway, street, lane, park, or place of public resort or amusement.'

He argued that the ordinance is unconstitutional and that a person accused of violating the ordinance cannot be compelled to submit to fingerprinting and photographing. The district court upheld the ordinance and the requirements of submitting to fingerprinting and photographing. We affirm the judgment.

A police officer of the Nampa Police Department arrested the appellant while the latter was seated in his automobile, which was parked in the parking lot of a bank in Nampa with the engine off. Voyles was arrested for an alleged violation of Nampa City Code § 6-1-27, taken into custody, transported to the police station, booked on that charge, and confined

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[97 Idaho 599] to a cell. The police agreed to release the appellant upon three conditions: that he agree to have his identification picture taken, to have his fingerprints taken, and to sign an Idaho Uniform Complaint and Summons. Voyles refused to comply with the first two conditions, but agreed to sign the complaint. His refusal to meet all three conditions caused the police to detain him through the night of his arrest.

An agreement was reached between the Chief of Police and the appellant's attorney whereby Voyles was released from custody upon signing an Idaho Uniform Complaint and Summons. The agreement further provided that, in an action for a writ of habeas corpus, the district court would determine whether the city police could require a defendant accused of this misdemeanor to be detained in custody until such defendant would submit to photographing and fingerprinting and other issues pertaining to the constitutionality of ordinance and the validity of the arrest.

The cause was heard on the issues framed by the application and return to the writ of habeas corpus. Thereafter, pursuant to a stipulation of facts, the court entered findings of fact and and its conclusions of law, which conclusions may be summarized as follows: The requirement of fingerprinting and photographing did not violate Voyles' constitutional rights, but instead was within the police powers of the municipality and was for the purpose of determining whether the appellant previously had been charged with or convicted of other crimes. The city is empowered to enact Nampa City Code § 6-1-27 under the authority of Idaho Const. Art. XII, § 2, and I.C. § 50-302. The ordinance is consistent with and a necessary extension of state statutes and is consistent with the Constitution of the State of Idaho. The ordinance, moreover, is sufficiently clear and certain to comply with the Constitutions of the State of Idaho and the United States. The ordinance's definition of 'public place' is not an essential portion of the ordinance, but when taken in context, gives the provision a plain-sense meaning, even though it may be overreaching. Voyles' arrest was legal and proper, and did not require the issuance of an Idaho Uniform Traffic Citation. The court thereafter ordered the appellant to submit to fingerprinting and photographing, pursuant to the reservation of that issue in the agreement between the Chief of Police and the appellant's attorney. This appeal followed.

Voyles first argued in his appeal that Nampa City Code § 6-1-27 violates the Constitution of the United States by being vague, uncertain, and overbroad. An examination of the language of the ordinance causes us to uphold its validity although we strike a word, which is surplusage, in the ordinance's second sentence. The due process clause of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States requires that a city ordinance must be definite and certain in its statement of prohibited conduct to enable a person of ordinary intelligence who reads the ordinance to understand what activity is proscribed and govern his actions accordingly. E.g., Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U.S. 104, 92 S.Ct. 2294, 33 L.Ed.2d 222 (1972); Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville, 405 U.S. 156, 92 S.Ct. 839, 31 L.Ed.2d 110 (1972). The Constitution of the State of Idaho also requires that city ordinances demonstrate a definiteness and certainty sufficient to permit a person to conform his conduct thereto. Idaho Const. Art. I, § 13; City of Lewiston v. Mathewson, 78 Idaho 347, 303 P.2d 680 (1956). See also State v. Evans, 73 Idaho 50, 245 P.2d 788 (1952); State v. Musser, 67 Idaho 214, 176 P.2d 199 (1946). An ordinance which fulfills the requirements of certainty and definiteness still may be constitutionally infirm if its prohibition is overbroad, restricting constitutionally protected conduct. E. g., Grayned v. City of Rockford,...