State v. Atley

564 N.W.2d 817, 1997 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 202, 1997 WL 331976
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJune 18, 1997
Docket95-1133
StatusPublished
Cited by75 cases

This text of 564 N.W.2d 817 (State v. Atley) 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 v. Atley, 564 N.W.2d 817, 1997 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 202, 1997 WL 331976 (iowa 1997).

Opinions

SNELL, Justice.

This case involves an appeal by defendant, Lewis J. Atley, who was convicted of manufacturing and possessing controlled substances, possession with intent to deliver controlled substances, and tax stamp violations. He asserts trial court errors and that the statute relating to psilocybin is unconstitutional. We are now reconsidering issues raised by defendant’s petition for rehearing, which we granted, as well as those issues previously considered. On rehearing, we affirm.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

On July 11, 1994, Davenport authorities were notified by the Denver, Colorado police that a package containing methamphetamine had been intercepted at the Denver airport and would be arriving that afternoon at the Quad City airport. Officers of the Quad-City Metropolitan Enforcement Group (MEG) set up surveillance at the airport and observed the defendant pick up the package. The officers followed Atley’s vehicle into Iowa and eventually stopped it along the interstate. Officers questioned him about the package and found that it did contain methamphetamine. Atley was Mirandized but not arrested. After a brief conversation, police obtained consent from Atley to search his home. Atley informed the officers that there they would find a small quantity of marijuana and something else that would “make front page news.”

Upon arriving at Atley’s residence, officers found it had been converted into a large mushroom growing operation. Inside were mushrooms in various stages of growth, over [820]*8204000 mason jars, 2000 styrofoam coolers, 240 petri dishes, four 50-pound bags of brown rice, and numerous other instruments of mushroom production, including refrigerators, humidifiers, grow lights, pressure cookers, heat sealers, and packaging materials. Police also found a quantity of marijuana at the residence. Atley told the police that he did not believe his operation was illegal, and at the same time stated that he could sell the mushrooms for $800 per pound.

Atley initially was not arrested and subsequently entered into an agreement with the police to serve as an informant. But after a few days, Atley and his wife could not be located. Police then obtained and executed several search warrants at post office boxes and at Atley’s residence. Pursuant to these warrants, officers seized property and funds believed to be proceeds of an illegal mushroom growing operation. A random sampling of mushroom material taken from the mason jars and petri dishes tested positive for psilocybin, a controlled substance, by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. The remaining organic material seized from the residence, including the untested mushrooms and mycelia, was subsequently destroyed when officers believed that its decomposition posed a health hazard.

Atley was eventually located and arrested in Florida in October 1994. On October 28, 1994, he was charged by trial information with: manufacture of a controlled substance (psilocybin) in violation of Iowa Code section 124.401(l)(c)(6) (1993), possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver (psilocybin) in violation of section 124.401(l)(b), failure to affix a tax stamp (psilocybin) in violation of section 453B.12, possession with the intent to deliver (cannabis) in violation of section 124.401(l)(d), failure to affix a tax stamp (cannabis) in violation of section 453B.12, and possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) in violation of section 124.401(3).

A forfeiture hearing was also held, which resulted in the forfeiture of money and other personal property found to be proceeds of illegal drug sales. Atley represented himself at this hearing.

Prior to trial of the criminal charges, court-appointed attorneys were appointed to represent Atley. They performed their responsibilities as his counsel and Atley filed and argued numerous motions pro se. At trial, a jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts. Atley filed a motion for new trial, which was denied by the district court. He now appeals the jury verdicts, the denial of the new trial motion, and other aspects of the charges against him.

II. Procedural Issues

A Uniform Criminal Jury Instruction No. 200.40

At trial, the jury was given Uniform Criminal Jury Instruction 200.40, which stated that the defendant’s exercise of his right to not be a witness on his own behalf shall not be considered by the jury for any purpose. At-ley argues that the court erred in submitting this instruction, contending that he never requested it, as required by State v. Kimball, 176 N.W.2d 864, 869 (Iowa 1970).

Our review of the submission of a jury instruction is for corrections of errors of law. Iowa R.App. P. 4; State v. Kellogg, 542 N.W.2d 514, 516 (Iowa 1996).

We have set forth the necessary prerequisites for submitting instruction number 200.40. In Kimball, we held that

such instruction should not be given in any future trial unless it is requested by defendant, and that it will be considered error if it is given, absent such request, in any trial started after the date this opinion is filed.

Kimball, 176 N.W.2d at 869.

The record, however, does indicate that the defendant affirmatively requested this instruction. After the jury left to deliberate, a brief record was made concerning this issue:

THE COURT: For purposes of the record — I’ve sent the jury from the room— included in the instructions sent with them was Instruction No. 33, regarding defendant’s decision not to testify.
I just need to clarify this for the record. Mr. Weinberg, this was included at your client’s request, is that right?
[821]*821MR. WEINBERG: Oh, yes; sure.
THE COURT: We didn’t put that on the record before.
MR. WEINBERG: It’s because it was already included.

Because the record shows Atley requested this instruction, there was no error in submitting it to the jury. The fact that the record was made after the jury began to deliberate is non-eonsequential. In addition, there is testimony from Atley where he acknowledges that he chose not to testify on his own behalf. Thus, we find that the record sufficiently meets the requirement of Kim-ball and that Atley was not prejudiced by the submission of this instruction to the jury.

B. Motion for New Trial

Atley also claims error in the trial court’s refusal to grant a new trial, based on numerous alleged errors occurring during the course of the proceedings. Trial courts have broad discretion in passing on motions for new trial. Thompson v. Rozeboom, 272 N.W.2d 444, 446 (Iowa 1978); Fleener v. Board of Supervisors, 246 N.W.2d 335, 338 (Iowa 1976). We review a denial of a motion for new trial for abuse of discretion. Bred-berg v. Pepsico, Inc., 551 N.W.2d 321, 326 (Iowa 1996). In order to show an abuse of discretion, one generally must show the court exercised its discretion “ ‘on grounds or for reasons clearly untenable or to an extent clearly unreasonable.’” State v. Blackwell, 238 N.W.2d 131, 138 (Iowa 1976) (quoting Weeks v. Burnor, 132 Vt. 603, 326 A.2d 138, 140 (1974)).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
564 N.W.2d 817, 1997 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 202, 1997 WL 331976, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-atley-iowa-1997.