State v. Hines

478 N.W.2d 888, 1991 Iowa App. LEXIS 368, 1991 WL 281426
CourtCourt of Appeals of Iowa
DecidedOctober 29, 1991
Docket91-445
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 478 N.W.2d 888 (State v. Hines) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals 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. Hines, 478 N.W.2d 888, 1991 Iowa App. LEXIS 368, 1991 WL 281426 (iowactapp 1991).

Opinion

HABHAB, Judge.

On October 19, 1990, two Cedar Rapids policemen observed an automobile sitting in a lot at Peter’s Pub at about 3:15 a.m. A man was observed slumped over the steering wheel. There were exhaust fumes and vapors coming from the car. He was then removed from the car and identified as the defendant, Michael Eugene Hines.

An officer at the scene observed that Hines had slurred speech, bloodshot eyes, very unstable balance, and an odor of alcohol. He failed several field sobriety tests. He was then arrested for OWI and transported to the Linn County Jail.

The officers requested that Hines consent to a breath test. He refused their request, but agreed to perform the field sobriety tests for videotaping purposes. However, during the testing, the video failed to function. The officers refused Hines’s request to perform the tests again for video.

Prior to trial, the district court rejected Hines’s motion to suppress evidence. Following trial, the jury found Hines guilty as charged. He now appeals.

Our review is for errors of law. Iowa R.App. 4.

I. “Operating” a Vehicle.

A. Intent to Drive. Hines first complains the trial court erred by not requiring the State to prove an intent to drive the vehicle. He contends the mere act of turning on the ignition does not amount to “operating” the vehicle.

The Iowa Supreme Court has clearly spoken on this subject:

In State v. Webb, 202 Iowa 633, 637, 210 N.W. 751, 752 (1926), we reasoned that “[t]he real danger that this statute seeks to protect against [is the] possible results from a drunken condition of a driver”, and held that a defendant stopped by police just after starting the ignition but before proceeding down the road, was operating his vehicle because turning the key was “the initial step in carrying out the operation of the car.”

State v. Weaver, 405 N.W.2d 852, 854 (Iowa 1987).

We find Weaver and the cases cited therein to be controlling. See id. Under those cases Hines was “operating” his vehicle when he started the car’s engine, thereby exerting control over the vehicle. See id. We likewise determine the uniform jury instruction given on this issue to be *890 consistent with the law and the facts of this case. We affirm the trial court on this issue.

B. Constitutional Issues. Hines additionally argues the definition of the term “operate” violates due process, as it punishes an intoxicated person for using a car as a shelter. He additionally asserts the statute is void for vagueness. Finally, he argues the eighth amendment prohibition against cruel or unusual punishment is violated in his case. Our review of these constitutional issues is de novo. State v. Niehaus, 452 N.W.2d 184, 187 (Iowa 1990).

Hines contends that the definition of the term “operate” contained in the uniform jury instruction violates his constitutional due process rights because it does not require proof of an intent to move the vehicle. The offense of OWI requires only two elements: intoxication of the operator and his act of operating the vehicle while so intoxicated. State v. Miller, 204 N.W.2d 834 (Iowa 1973).

The due process clause does not limit the exercise of a state’s police power unless the legislation is an arbitrary, unreasonable or improper use of such power. John R. Grubb, Inc. v. Iowa Housing Finance Authority, 255 N.W.2d 89 (Iowa 1977). The state has broad discretion in exercising its inherent police power to pass laws to promote the public health, safety, and welfare. State v. Hartog, 440 N.W.2d 852, 856 (Iowa 1989). Such laws are presumed constitutional so long as they are reasonably related to the public welfare. Id. at 866. In order to overcome this presumption, the moving party must negate every reasonable basis upon which the law may be sustained. Bierkamp v. Rogers, 293 N.W.2d 577, 580 (Iowa 1980).

Iowa Code sections 321J.2 and 321.-1(42) are rationally related to the public welfare. They are designed to protect the public from a potential danger: “the possible results from a drunken condition of a driver.” State v. Weaver, 405 N.W.2d at 854 (citing State v. Webb, 202 Iowa 633, 637, 210 N.W. 751, 752 (1926)). The first step in carrying out the operation of a vehicle is to turn the key and start the ignition. Therefore, a person can be operating if he has started the ignition but has not yet proceeded down the road. Id. We conclude Hines has failed to carry his burden to show the OWI statute and uniform jury instruction are not reasonably related to the public welfare.

Hines also argues the OWI statute violates his due process rights because it is vague. He claims it does not fairly warn a person of what constitutes “operating” a vehicle while intoxicated. To survive a vagueness attack, a penal statute must give a person of ordinary intelligence fair notice of what is prohibited and give an explicit standard for those who apply it. State v. Ramsey, 444 N.W.2d 493, 494 (Iowa 1989).

In upholding the OWI statute against a vagueness challenge on another issue, the court in State v. Bock, 357 N.W.2d 29 (Iowa 1984), stated that, “Although persons engaging in consumption of alcoholic beverages may not be able to ascertain precisely when the concentration of alcohol in their blood, breath or urine reaches the prescribed level, they should, in the exercise of reasonable intelligence, understand what type of conduct places them in jeopardy of violating the statute. We believe a realization of this potential jeopardy of violating the statute is sufficient to satisfy the requirements of due process.”

Iowa Code section 321J.2 expressly prohibits a person who is under the influence of alcohol from operating a motor vehicle; section 321.1(42) defines “operator” as every person who is in actual physical control of a motor vehicle upon a highway. These statutes provide sufficient notice to the public they are not to have physical control of a vehicle when they are intoxicated. No due process violation has occurred here.

The defendant also contends his punishment for conviction of OWI, second offense, will be cruel and unusual because it is an aggravated misdemeanor when, according to Hines’s theory, he was merely sleeping in his automobile and at most *891 should have been charged with public intoxication, a simple misdemeanor.

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

Related

State of Iowa v. Christopher Lee Lowery
Court of Appeals of Iowa, 2015
State v. Portsche
622 N.W.2d 582 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 2001)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
478 N.W.2d 888, 1991 Iowa App. LEXIS 368, 1991 WL 281426, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-hines-iowactapp-1991.