State v. Moritz

293 N.W.2d 235, 1980 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 875
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJune 18, 1980
Docket62991
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 293 N.W.2d 235 (State v. Moritz) 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. Moritz, 293 N.W.2d 235, 1980 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 875 (iowa 1980).

Opinion

UHLENHOPP, Justice.

This appeal requires us to consider challenges by a deputy sheriff to his conviction on charges arising from his receipt of mileage fees for service of legal papers. References are to the 1977 Iowa Code unless otherwise stated.

As part of his duties as a Scott County deputy sheriff, defendant Richard W. Mor-itz supervised the service of legal papers by the sheriff’s office and the accounting of funds generated by service. To cover the costs of serving civil papers, sections 79.9 and 337.11(10) of the 1977 Code provide that sheriffs are entitled to collect fifteen cents for every mile driven by their deputies in private cars to serve the papers. Under Moritz’ supervision, Scott County deputies were instructed to charge attorneys flat dollar amounts calculated according to geographical zones, rather than the statutory rate. The funds generated by this system exceeded those authorized by law. The officers who actually served the papers received half of the amount charged; Moritz received a portion of the remaining funds each month. Although Scott County Sheriff Kenneth R. Paulsen took the largest share of those remaining funds, Moritz’ portion ranged from $150 per month in mid-1973 to $250 per month in mid-1977.

On March 30, 1978, the State filed two informations charging Moritz with violations of sections 739.10 (accepting award for public duty) and 740.1 (extortion), as well as with conspiracy to commit those crimes. See § 719.1, The Code 1977. The information alleging violation of section 739.10 and of conspiracy to violate that section involved a specific act on January 7, 1977. The information alleging violation of section 740.1 and conspiracy to violate that section involved an incident on November 3, 1976. On June 29, 1978, the State orally moved to dismiss the original informations “in the interests of justice,” and the motion was sustained by the district court. On the same day the State filed a new information again charging Moritz with violation of section 739.10 and with conspiracy to violate that section, involving an activity which allegedly occurred on April 5, 1977. See §§ 719.1, 739.10, The Code. Moritz filed a motion to dismiss the June 29 information on the ground that the crimes it charged were the same as those alleged in the previous informations, and that the previous in-formations should have been dismissed with prejudice for speedy trial reasons. The district court overruled the motion on the ground that, although the previously filed informations should have been dismissed with prejudice because of the prosecution’s failure to provide a speedy trial thereon, the crimes alleged in the June 29 information constituted separate and distinct *238 charges from those alleged originally. We denied Moritz’ petition for a writ of certio-rari to review that ruling on October 28, 1978.

Prior to the trial of this case Moritz filed three additional motions to dismiss which were overruled by the district court. Four days before trial the State filed a motion to amend the June 29 information to add as co-conspirators Sheriff Paulsen and two other deputy sheriffs. The district court granted the motion to amend over Moritz’ protest of prejudice based on tardiness.

At the close of the State’s evidence at trial and again at the close of all the evidence, Moritz moved for a directed verdict of acquittal. The trial court overruled both motions, and the jury found Moritz guilty of violating section 740.10 (taking more than a lawful fee, ruled by the trial court to be a lesser included offense of section 739.-10) and of conspiracy to violate section 739.-10. Moritz then filed motions for a new trial and for arrest of judgment asserting numerous errors by the trial court. The court overruled the motions and passed sentence, and Moritz appealed.

I. Speedy trial. We first take up Mor-itz’ speedy trial contention.

A. Validity of June 29 charges. One of Moritz’ arguments is that the court’s dismissal of the original informations and the subsequent prosecution under the June 29 information violated his right to a speedy trial under section 795.2 of the 1977 Code as this court construed the section in State v. Johnson, 217 N.W.2d 609, 612 (Iowa 1974). Section 795.2 provides in part:

If a defendant indicted for a public offense, whose trial has not been postponed upon his application, be not brought to trial within sixty days after the indictment is found, the court must order it to be dismissed, unless good cause to the contrary be shown.

In Johnson this court held that when charges for a particular offense have been dismissed under section 795.2 the State may not subsequently file charges for that same offense, and that to hold otherwise would “drain [section 795.2] of its force and effectiveness in protecting the accused’s right to a speedy trial.” Id. at 612. Moritz contends that Johnson is applicable here and his conviction must therefore be reversed.

For Johnson to apply two factors must exist. First, the dismissal of the original charge must have been for speedy trial reasons rather than for such “good cause” as the facilitation of evidence-gathering, procurement of witnesses, or plea bargaining. Id. at 613. Second, the later-filed charge must be for the same offense as originally.

The district court specifically ruled that the original informations “should have been dismissed with prejudice by the Court for failure to bring the Defendants to trial within 60 days of the Informations, pursuant to Section 795.2 of the Code.” The State does not challenge that finding. Although at one time the State claimed it could show “good cause” for the delay in Moritz’ arraignment and trial, the record shows it dismissed the original informations twenty-seven days later “in the interests of justice” with no further pleading or proof on the good cause issue. We thus accept the finding of the district court that the State dismissed the original informations to avoid the consequences of its failure to bring Moritz to trial within sixty days.

The district court declined however to apply Johnson to this case, concluding that the charges in the June 29 information are “distinct and separate” from those in the original informations. It based this conclusion on the ground that the June 29 information alleged offenses occurring on different dates than those in the original infor-mations. Because of differences in the crimes of which Moritz was convicted, we will consider them separately.

1. Acceptance of more than lawful fee. In the context of double jeopardy, we have adopted the “same evidence” test for determining whether two alleged offenses are the same. We believe that rationale is applicable here:

The rule now generally recognized is that, in order that the plea of former *239 jeopardy may be available, it must appear that the two offenses are in substance the same, or of the same nature, or same species, so that the evidence which proves one would prove the other.

State v. Stewart, 223 N.W.2d 250

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

Related

State of Iowa v. Michael Dwight Page
Court of Appeals of Iowa, 2025
State of Iowa v. Sarah Rae Berg
Supreme Court of Iowa, 2024
State of Iowa v. Kirsten Marie Carney
Court of Appeals of Iowa, 2017
Roger B. Ennenga v. State of Iowa
812 N.W.2d 696 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 2012)
State v. Brisco
816 N.W.2d 415 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 2012)
State of Iowa v. Judith Renae Utter
803 N.W.2d 647 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 2011)
State v. Abrahamson
746 N.W.2d 270 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 2008)
State v. Hoffman
732 N.W.2d 887 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 2007)
State v. Mapp
585 N.W.2d 746 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1998)
Knox v. State
532 N.W.2d 149 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1995)
State v. Lange
495 N.W.2d 105 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1993)
State v. Head
469 N.W.2d 585 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1991)
State v. Gansz
403 N.W.2d 778 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1987)
Saadiq v. State
387 N.W.2d 315 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1986)
State v. Phelps
379 N.W.2d 384 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1985)
State v. Fisher
351 N.W.2d 798 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1984)
State v. Bond
340 N.W.2d 276 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1983)
State v. Eichorn
325 N.W.2d 95 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1982)
State v. Buss
325 N.W.2d 384 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
293 N.W.2d 235, 1980 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 875, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-moritz-iowa-1980.