State of Iowa v. Lee Allen Breuer

808 N.W.2d 195, 2012 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 2
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJanuary 6, 2012
Docket09–1170
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 808 N.W.2d 195 (State of Iowa v. Lee Allen Breuer) 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. Lee Allen Breuer, 808 N.W.2d 195, 2012 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 2 (iowa 2012).

Opinion

APPEL, Justice.

In this case, we consider whether the withdrawal of a blood specimen pursuant to a search warrant violates the search and seizure provisions of the Iowa or United States Constitutions when the warrant is not physically present during the withdrawal. For the reasons expressed below, we conclude this case presents no constitutional violation.

I. Factual and Procedural Background.

The material facts are undisputed. Lee Allen Breuer was the apparent driver in a one-car accident on Highway 6 in Jasper County. When Lieutenant Dennis Stevenson of the Jasper County Sheriffs Office arrived at the scene, he saw an overturned vehicle in a ditch along the side of the highway. Breuer was attempting to assist a passenger in the overturned vehicle.

At the scene, Stevenson rendered assistance. He detected an odor of alcohol about Breuer and observed that Breuer was unsteady on his feet. Stevenson also observed a number of beer cans lying in and around the car.

Breuer and the passenger were transported to Grinnell Regional Medical Center. At the hospital, Deputy Sheriff Aaron Groves asked Breuer to provide a breath test, but Breuer refused to provide a sample. Groves invoked implied consent procedures, including reading Breuer the implied consent advisory required by Iowa law. Breuer refused to provide a blood or urine test.

Following Breuer’s refusals, Stevenson met with a magistrate in Newton and obtained a warrant authorizing withdrawal of a blood specimen from Breuer. See Iowa *197 Code § 321J.10 (2009). After he obtained the warrant, Stevenson called Groves at the hospital in Grinnell and advised Groves he had obtained the warrant and was en route to the hospital. Before Stevenson arrived at the hospital with the warrant, Groves informed Breuer that a search warrant had been obtained and demanded that Breuer submit to a blood draw. Breuer initially refused, but after Groves advised him that the blood would be withdrawn by force if necessary, Breuer acquiesced and a specimen was withdrawn.

Ten to fifteen minutes after the blood draw, Stevenson arrived at the hospital with the search warrant. Breuer was then advised that the warrant had arrived and a copy of it was placed with his belongings at the hospital. The alcohol content from the specimen provided by Breuer was 0.171, well over the legal limit for intoxication.

The passenger in Breuer’s vehicle died as a result of injuries sustained in the accident. The State charged Breuer with homicide by vehicle in violation of Iowa Code section 707.6A(1). Breuer filed a motion to suppress the results of the blood draw, which the district court denied. The court of appeals affirmed. Breuer filed a motion for further review, which we granted.

II. Standard of Review.

The standard of review of the constitutional issues raised in this ease is de novo. State v. Taeger, 781 N.W.2d 560, 564 (Iowa 2010).

III. Discussion.

A. Introduction. The parties agree that the blood draw could only legally be accomplished with a warrant. The parties also do not dispute that the search warrant was supported by probable cause and was otherwise valid. The sole issue presented in this appeal, therefore, is whether a blood draw pursuant to Iowa Code section 321J.10 is valid under the Fourth Amendment and article I, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution when the search warrant for the blood specimen is obtained but not physically present during the withdrawal.

B. Federal Caselaw. The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution provides:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

U.S. Const, amend. IV. As we have noted, the Fourth Amendment contains both a Warrant Clause and a Reasonableness Clause. State v. Ochoa, 792 N.W.2d 260, 268 (Iowa 2010). Neither the Warrant Clause nor the Reasonableness Clause specifically requires that an officer conducting a search have physical possession of a warrant at the time of the search. U.S. Const, amend. IV; see also United States v. Banks, 540 U.S. 31, 35, 124 S.Ct. 521, 524-25, 157 L.Ed.2d 343, 352 (2003) (observing “[t]he Fourth Amendment says nothing specific about formalities in exercising a warrant’s authorization”). Further, no party has identified any historical materials to assist in our analysis of the narrow question before us.

The United States Supreme Court has not directly addressed whether the Fourth Amendment requires a search warrant to be physically present at the place to be searched when the warrant is executed. In two cases, however, the Court has at least implied the Fourth Amendment imposes no such requirement.

*198 In Groh v. Ramirez, 540 U.S. 551, 124 S.Ct. 1284, 157 L.Ed.2d 1068 (2004), the Court explained that the particularity requirement of the Fourth Amendment serves two purposes: to prevent general searches and to assure “the individual whose property is searched or seized of the lawful authority of the executing officer, his need to search, and the limits of his power to search.” Groh, 540 U.S. at 561, 124 S.Ct. at 1292, 157 L.Ed.2d at 1081 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). While recognizing the dual purposes of the particularity requirement, the Court noted that “neither the Fourth Amendment nor Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure requires the executing officer to serve the warrant on the owner before commencing the search.” Id. at 562 n. 5, 124 S.Ct. at 1292 n. 5, 157 L.Ed.2d at 1081 n. 5.

The Court essentially repeated this observation in United States v. Grubbs, 547 U.S. 90, 126 S.Ct. 1494, 164 L.Ed.2d 195 (2006). In G'rubbs, the Court noted, in the context of a challenge to an anticipatory search warrant, that neither the Fourth Amendment nor the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure requires the executing officer to present the property owner with a copy of the warrant before conducting the search. Grubbs, 547 U.S. at 99, 126 S.Ct. at 1501, 164 L.Ed.2d at 205. According to the Grubbs Court, the particularity requirement of the Fourth Amendment does “not protect an interest in monitoring searches.” Id. (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

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Bluebook (online)
808 N.W.2d 195, 2012 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-iowa-v-lee-allen-breuer-iowa-2012.