State v. Iowa District Court for Johnson County

730 N.W.2d 677, 2007 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 57, 2007 WL 1227664
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedApril 27, 2007
Docket06-0203
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 730 N.W.2d 677 (State v. Iowa District Court for Johnson County) 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. Iowa District Court for Johnson County, 730 N.W.2d 677, 2007 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 57, 2007 WL 1227664 (iowa 2007).

Opinion

HECHT, Justice.

The State filed a petition for writ of certiorari alleging the district court exceeded its statutory authority in granting David Jensen a deferred judgment. We conclude Iowa Code section 321J.2(3)(a)(1) (2005) prohibits a deferred judgment under the circumstances of this case. We consequently sustain the writ, vacate the sentence, and remand for resentencing.

J. Background Facts.

On January 31, 2005, between approximately 9:00 p.m. and 9:50 p.m., David Jensen drank three double scotches at a bar in Solon, Iowa. At 10:03 p.m., the Johnson County Sheriffs Department received a call indicating a vehicle had been driving erratically and doing “donuts” on the road. Deputy Mark Prentice arrived at the location of the dispatch and found Jensen walking along the road, his car in a ditch. The deputy detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath, slurred speech, unsteady balance, and red, glassy eyes. The deputy administered three standardized field sobriety tests and a preliminary breath test, all of which indicated impairment.

Jensen was transported to the University of Iowa Department of Public Safety for additional testing. At 11:28 p.m., Jensen took a DataMaster breath test, which indicated a .170 alcohol concentration.

II. Background Proceedings.

The State charged Jensen with operating while intoxicated (OWI), in violation of Iowa Code section 321J.2(l)(u) (operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol) and section 321J.2(1)(6) (operating a motor vehicle while having an alcohol concentration of .08 or more). Jensen filed a written plea of guilty to the crime of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence, in violation of section 321J.2(l)(a). However, in his written plea, Jensen requested a deferred judgment, expressly denying the State’s allegation that he had driven with an alcohol concentration above .08. The State moved unsuccessfully to set aside the guilty plea because of Jensen’s denial of this allegation.

At Jensen’s sentencing hearing, the parties disputed Jensen’s eligibility for a deferred judgment. The State contended Jensen was ineligible pursuant to Iowa Code section 321J.2(3)(a)(l), which prohibits a court from granting a deferred judgment if “the defendant’s alcohol concentration established by the results of an analysis of a specimen of the defendant’s blood, breath, or urine withdrawn in accordance with this chapter exceeds .15.” According to the State, Jensen’s Data-Master test indicating a .17 alcohol concentration conclusively rendered him ineligible for a deferred judgment under this provision.

Jensen argued that, under the particular circumstances of his case, the test result did not render him ineligible for a deferred judgment. Experts for both the State and the defense testified at the sentencing hearing that Jensen would not have absorbed enough alcohol for his alcohol concentration to actually have exceeded .15 at the time he was driving. According to *679 Jensen, this evidence rebutted a presumption contained in section 321J.2(8)(a):

The alcohol concentration established by the results of an analysis of a specimen of the defendant’s blood, breath, or urine withdrawn within two hours after the defendant was driving or in physical control of a motor vehicle is presumed to be the alcohol concentration at the time of driving or being in physical control of the motor vehicle.

The State responded that this evidentiary presumption is applicable only at trial, not at sentencing. The district court agreed with Jensen and granted a deferred judgment.

The State filed a petition for writ of certiorari to “challenge the authority of the district court to grant a deferred judgment in violation of Iowa Code section 321J.2(3)(a)” and “to resolve ... whether the two-hour evidentiary presumption in section 321J.2(8) applies to the district court’s determination [of] whether a defendant is eligible for a deferred judgment under section 321J.2(3)(a)(l).” We granted the petition and ordered further proceedings pursuant to the rules of appellate procedure. Iowa R.App. P. 6.303.

III. Scope of Review.

Because the State’s claim involves statutory interpretation, our review is for correction of errors at law. State v. Booth, 670 N.W.2d 209, 211 (Iowa 2003).

IV. Discussion.

This case presents a question of statutory interpretation: Whether section 321J.2(3)(a)(1) renders Jensen ineligible for a deferred judgment because his breath test indicated an alcohol concentration in excess of .15, in spite of evidence introduced at his sentencing hearing tending to prove his alcohol concentration at the time of driving did not exceed .15. The rules of statutory interpretation that guide our analysis are well settled. When a statute’s text is plain and its meaning clear, we do not “ ‘search for meaning beyond [the statute’s] express terms.’ ” State v. Knowles, 602 N.W.2d 800, 801 (Iowa 1999) (quoting State v. Chang, 587 N.W.2d 459, 461 (Iowa 1998)). The terms of a statute must be enforced as written. Brown v. Star Seeds, Inc., 614 N.W.2d 577, 579 (Iowa 2000).

Statutory text may express legislative intent by omission as well as inclusion. State v. Miller, 590 N.W.2d 45, 47 (Iowa 1999). The court “may not ... enlarge or -otherwise change the terms of a statute as the legislature adopted it.” Id. When a proposed interpretation of a statute would require the court to “read something into the law that is not apparent from the words chosen by the legislature,” the court will reject it. State v. Guzman-Juarez, 591 N.W.2d 1, 2 (Iowa 1999).

We conclude the text of section 321J.2(3)(a)(1) clearly indicates its application does not depend on proof that an alcohol concentration of .15 or above existed at the time of driving. The statute prohibits the granting of a deferred judgment when “the defendant’s alcohol concentration established by the results of an analysis of a specimen of the defendant’s blood, breath, or urine withdrawn in accordance with this chapter exceeds .15.” Jensen asks us to rewrite the statute to deny a deferred judgment to any defendant whose “alcohol concentration ... exceeded .15 at the time of driving.” We have no authority to do so. Guzman-Juarez, 591 N.W.2d at 2 (rejecting a defendant’s interpretation of section 321J.2(3)(a)(l) that would require “reading] something into the law that is not apparent from the words chosen by the legislature”).

We rejected a similar invitation to add words to section 321J.2(3)(a)(l) in State v. Rettinghaus, 591 N.W.2d 15

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Bluebook (online)
730 N.W.2d 677, 2007 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 57, 2007 WL 1227664, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-iowa-district-court-for-johnson-county-iowa-2007.