Larsson v. Iowa Board of Parole

465 N.W.2d 272, 1991 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 15, 1991 WL 5818
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJanuary 23, 1991
Docket89-1457
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 465 N.W.2d 272 (Larsson v. Iowa Board of Parole) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Larsson v. Iowa Board of Parole, 465 N.W.2d 272, 1991 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 15, 1991 WL 5818 (iowa 1991).

Opinion

NEUMAN, Justice.

These are consolidated appeals from prisoners who challenge the revocation of their paroles under Iowa Code chapter 908 (1989). On judicial review of the parole board’s action, the district court upheld the constitutionality of chapter 908 against the appellants’ claim that the law denies them due process and impermissibly delegates revocation authority to the parole board without providing substantive standards. Finding no constitutional infirmity in the statute, we affirm the district court.

I. Background. Appellants Keith E. Larsson, Gary Mumford, Michael Van Horn, and Melvin Q. Key were all prisoners in the Iowa correctional system. Each was released on parole, and each appellant’s parole was subsequently revoked after a *273 hearing held pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 908. Each man appealed his revocation to the Iowa Board of Parole. The appeals urged identical grounds for reversal: (1) that the “one hearing” scheme of Iowa Code chapter 908 violates the minimum due process standards set by the United States Supreme Court in Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972); and (2) that by failing to include standards for parole revocation in chapter 908, the legislature has impermissibly delegated legislative power to an administrative body.

The parole board denied the appeals and the prisoners sought judicial review in the district court. The district court also found the constitutional challenges groundless. This appeal followed.

Our review of appellants’ constitutional challenges is guided by familiar principles. A strong presumption of constitutionality cloaks every Iowa statute. Harden v. State, 434 N.W.2d 881, 885 (Iowa 1989). Thus, a party who challenges a statute “carries a heavy burden” of rebutting this presumption. State v. Duncan, 414 N.W.2d 91, 95 (Iowa 1987). A statute must clearly, palpably, and without doubt infringe upon the constitution before we will declare it unconstitutional. Saadiq v. State, 387 N.W.2d 315, 320 (Iowa 1986). With these principles in mind, we consider appellants’ arguments in turn.

II. Due process. In 1972, the Supreme Court announced the “minimum requirements of due process” applicable to parole revocations. Morrissey, 408 U.S. at 488, 92 S.Ct. at 2604, 33 L.Ed.2d at 499. The decision involved two Iowa convicts whose paroles had been revoked without any hearing whatsoever. In examining the due process to which parolees were entitled before their “conditional liberty” was abridged, the court stated that it saw “two important stages in the typical process of parole revocation.” Id. at 485, 92 S.Ct. at 2602, 33 L.Ed.2d at 496. The first stage involves a reasonably prompt and minimal inquiry (“in the nature of a ‘preliminary hearing’ ”) in which a neutral decision maker determines “whether there is probable cause or reasonable ground to believe that the arrested parolee has committed acts that would constitute a violation of parole conditions.” Id. at 485, 92 S.Ct. at 2602, 33 L.Ed.2d at 497. The second stage is a revocation hearing which “lead[s] to a final evaluation of any contested relevant facts and consideration of whether the facts as determined warrant revocation.” Id. at 488, 92 S.Ct. at 2603, 33 L.Ed.2d at 498. Not wanting to create an inflexible structure in a procedural realm uniquely the responsibility of the State, the Court concluded by laying down the following “minimal requirements of due process”:

(a) written notice of the claimed violations of parole;
(b) disclosure to the parolee of evidence against him;
(c) opportunity to be heard in person and to present witnesses and documentary evidence;
(d) the right to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses (unless the hearing officer specifically finds good cause for not allowing confrontation);
(e) a “neutral and detached” hearing body such as a traditional parole board, members of which need not be judicial officers or lawyers; and
(f) a written statement by the factfind-ers as to the evidence relied on and reasons for revoking parole.

Id. at 489, 92 S.Ct. at 2604, 33 L.Ed.2d at 499.

Iowa responded by amending its parole revocation procedure in conformity with Morrissey. As originally enacted, chapter 908 provided for an initial appearance before a magistrate followed by a “probable cause hearing” by a “liaison officer.” Iowa Code § 908.4 (1979). If the liaison officer found probable cause to proceed, the matter was turned over to the parole board for the dispositional hearing. Iowa Code § 908.7 (1979).

A revision of this statutory scheme in 1988 has prompted the present appeal. See 1988 Iowa Acts ch. 1091, §§ 6-14 (codified at Iowa Code ch. 908 (1989)). The amended statute retains the requirement *274 that the parolee be brought promptly before a magistrate for initial appearance, but the statute collapses the other two hearings into one “parole revocation hearing.” See Iowa Code § 908.4. Appellants argue that this reduction in the number of hearings violates Morrissey. The district court found no basis for appellants’ contention, and neither do we.

The thrust of appellants’ argument is that by eliminating the • probable cause hearing before the “liaison officer,” the legislature has disregarded Morrissey’s two-step regime. To the contrary, we think chapter 908 as amended merely removed a third hearing never required or contemplated by Morrissey. We reach this conclusion by examining not only chapter 908 but also the related statutes pertaining to initial appearance before the magistrate.

Iowa Code section 908.1 provides two means of starting the process of parole revocation. A parole officer may arrest a parolee based on the officer’s determination of probable cause, or the officer may make a complaint before the magistrate and, if it appears from the complaint and any affidavits filed with it that “there is probable cause to believe that such person has violated the parole plan,” the magistrate shall issue an arrest warrant. Iowa Code § 908.1.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Kenneth Lee Doss v. State of Iowa
Supreme Court of Iowa, 2021
State v. Wade
757 N.W.2d 618 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 2008)
State Of Iowa Vs. Kelly Lee Wade
Supreme Court of Iowa, 2008
People v. Jackson
109 P.3d 1017 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2004)
Perkins v. Board of Supervisors
636 N.W.2d 58 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 2001)
Loder v. Iowa Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Division
622 N.W.2d 513 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 2000)
Glowacki v. State Board of Medical Examiners
501 N.W.2d 539 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
465 N.W.2d 272, 1991 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 15, 1991 WL 5818, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/larsson-v-iowa-board-of-parole-iowa-1991.