State of Iowa v. Artell Jamario Young

CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedDecember 20, 2024
Docket23-0480
StatusPublished

This text of State of Iowa v. Artell Jamario Young (State of Iowa v. Artell Jamario Young) 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
State of Iowa v. Artell Jamario Young, (iowa 2024).

Opinion

In the Iowa Supreme Court

No. 23–0480

Submitted November 19, 2024—Filed December 20, 2024

State of Iowa,

Appellee,

vs.

Artell Jamario Young,

Appellant.

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, William P. Kelly,

judge.

A defendant appeals his convictions for various drug offenses, arguing that

the search of his home by federal probation officers violated article I, section 8

of the Iowa Constitution. Affirmed.

Mansfield, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which all justices joined.

Martha J. Lucey, State Appellate Defender, and Melinda J. Nye (argued),

Assistant Appellate Defendant, for appellant.

Brenna Bird, Attorney General, and Louis S. Sloven (argued), Assistant

Attorney General, for appellee. 2

Mansfield, Justice.

I. Introduction.

Two stars keep not their motion in one sphere; Nor can one England brook a double reign.

William Shakespeare, Henry IV Part I, act 5, sc. 4, l. 3019–20.

The genius of our federal system is that it does “brook a double reign.” Our

citizens are governed by two sovereigns: state and federal. This system has

served America well, but it results in considerable work for judges, who must

decide which sovereign’s law to apply when a case involves the acts of both.

An individual who was under federal supervised release agreed that he

would submit to searches of his person, vehicle, or home if federal probation

officers had reasonable suspicion to believe that those areas contained

contraband or that he had violated the terms of his release. After receiving

information that the individual was illegally dealing drugs and illegally

possessing a firearm, federal probation officers conducted a search of his home,

where they discovered relatively small amounts of crack cocaine, powdered

cocaine, and marijuana. Concluding that this level of criminal activity was more

that of a Falstaff than a Hotspur, the federal authorities turned the matter over

to Iowa authorities. Compare William Shakespeare, Henry IV Part I, act 1, sc. 2,

with id. act 1, sc. 3. Charges were brought, and the individual was convicted of

several aggravated misdemeanor drug offenses. He now appeals, claiming that

the search of his home by federal probation officers violated Iowa constitutional

standards but not claiming that it violated federal standards.

We conclude that the constitutionality of the search should be evaluated

by the law of the sovereign that initiated and conducted the search—not by the

law of the sovereign that had nothing to do with the search. We therefore reject

the defendant’s claim of an illegal search and affirm his convictions. 3

II. Facts and Procedural History.

Artell Young, whose criminal history includes convictions for state

weapons offenses from 2008, 2014, and 2016, was convicted of the federal crime

of felon in possession of a firearm in federal district court in February 2017. See

18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), 924(a)(2). He received a prison sentence. Following his

discharge from prison in January 2019, Young had to undergo a

thirty-six-month period of supervised release.1 He was assigned to United States

Probation Officer Amy Johnson. A condition of Young’s supervised release

authorized him to be searched by federal probation officers:

You will submit to a search of your person, property, residence, adjacent structures, office, vehicle, papers, computers (as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 1030(e)(1)), and other electronic communications or data storage devices or media, conducted by a U.S. Probation Officer. Failure to submit to a search may be grounds for revocation. You must warn any other residents or occupants that the premises and/or vehicle may be subject to searches pursuant to this condition. An officer may conduct a search pursuant to this condition only when reasonable suspicion exists that you have violated a condition of your release and/or that the area(s) or item(s) to be searched contain evidence of this violation or contain contraband. Any search must be conducted at a reasonable time and in a reasonable manner. This condition may be invoked with or without the assistance of law enforcement, including the U.S. Marshals Service.

In February 2021, Officer Johnson received information from a

confidential source that Young was selling controlled substances. The source

also reported seeing Young in possession of a black handgun on at least two

separate occasions. Reportedly, the gun was owned by Young’s wife, Jasmine

Evans, but the source had observed Young handling it.

1See United States v. Makeeff, No. 4:14–cr–00081–SMR–CFB, 2015 WL 13284966, at *4

(S.D. Iowa Feb. 6, 2015) (“The Court must first note that this case involves federal supervised release, not probation or parole. Supervisees, in a sense, enjoy the least amount of privacy in this context.”), aff’d, 820 F.3d 995 (8th Cir. 2016) (per curiam). 4

In September, Young was arrested for operating a motor vehicle while

intoxicated. See Iowa Code § 321J.2 (2021). Then, in November, the same

confidential source informed Officer Johnson that they saw Young receiving

drugs and telling people that he was cooking cocaine.

Officer Johnson submitted a formal search request to the search

coordinator for the judicial district—United States Probation Officer Justin Song.

The purpose of the search was to look for “[e]vidence of a violation of [Young’s]

conditions which includes evidence of a crime.” Officer Song determined there

was reasonable suspicion to conduct a search in accordance with the search

conditions of Young’s supervised release. Meanwhile, Young failed to appear for

a mandatory random drug test.

On December 22, Young arrived at the probation office for a scheduled

visit. He was driven by his wife, Evans. Upon arrival, Young was handcuffed and

searched by Officer Song and other probation officers. No contraband was found

on his person. With Young temporarily detained, the probation officers went

outside to make contact with Evans. They searched the car and retrieved Young’s

cellphone. Officer Song asked Evans if she was carrying a firearm. She stated

that she was and consented to a search of her purse. In the purse, a 9mm firearm

and a magazine were found.

After being informed that the probation officers would be conducting a

search of their home, Young and Evans agreed to let the probation officers drive

them back to the house. Young and Evans helped secure their dogs while the

probation officers conducted the search. About a dozen officers were present.

They searched the home for a period of several hours. The search team

uncovered a 4.7-gram bag of crack cocaine and a 3.4-gram bag of powdered

cocaine inside a child’s shoe in a child’s bedroom. They also found 35.9 grams 5

of marijuana in a kitchen drawer. In addition, they located a digital scale with

white residue and a partial box of 9mm ammunition.

Officer Johnson, acting as the evidence technician, conducted the search

of Young’s phone and discovered some text messages relating to drug

transactions.

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

Related

United States v. Brignoni-Ponce
422 U.S. 873 (Supreme Court, 1975)
Griffin v. Wisconsin
483 U.S. 868 (Supreme Court, 1987)
United States v. Knights
534 U.S. 112 (Supreme Court, 2001)
State v. Torres
262 P.3d 1006 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 2011)
Morales v. State
407 So. 2d 321 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1981)
State v. Bradley
719 P.2d 546 (Washington Supreme Court, 1986)
State v. Turner
630 N.W.2d 601 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 2001)
State v. Gwinner
796 P.2d 728 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1990)
People v. Blair
602 P.2d 738 (California Supreme Court, 1979)
Basham v. Commonwealth
675 S.W.2d 376 (Kentucky Supreme Court, 1984)
State v. Dreibelbis
511 A.2d 307 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 1986)
King v. State
746 S.W.2d 515 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1988)
State v. Gillespie
530 N.W.2d 446 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1995)
State v. Toone
823 S.W.2d 744 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1992)
State v. Coburn
683 A.2d 1343 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 1996)
State v. Mollica
554 A.2d 1315 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1989)
People v. Fidler
391 N.E.2d 210 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1979)
State v. Cline
617 N.W.2d 277 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 2000)
State v. Cardenas-Alvarez
2001 NMSC 017 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 2001)
State of Iowa v. Justin Dean Short
851 N.W.2d 474 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
State of Iowa v. Artell Jamario Young, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-iowa-v-artell-jamario-young-iowa-2024.