State v. Oliveri

156 N.W.2d 688, 261 Iowa 1140, 1968 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 789
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedFebruary 6, 1968
Docket52800
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 156 N.W.2d 688 (State v. Oliveri) 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. Oliveri, 156 N.W.2d 688, 261 Iowa 1140, 1968 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 789 (iowa 1968).

Opinions

LARSON, Justice.

The sole issue presented by this appeal is whether the trial court erred in overruling defendant’s motion to suppress evidence seized under a search warrant.

On March 28, 1967, a county attorney’s information was filed in the District Court of Lee County, Iowa, charging the defendant, Anthony F. Oliveri, with possession of burglar’s tools and other implements, contrary to section 708.7 of the Code of 1966. Subsequent to a plea of not guilty, the case came to trial on June 22, 1967, the termination of which resulted in the jury returning- a verdict of guilty. The same day the court entered its judgment sentencing defendant to the Iowa State Penitentiary for a term not to exceed fifteen' years.

On the evening of February 26, 1967, pursuant to information received from the Rochester Police Department of New York, several officers of the Fort Madison police [690]*690department arrested the defendant and Dewey Ayers at the Madison Inn Motel in Fort Madison, Iowa. Pursuant to and contemporaneous with the arrest, the officers made a preliminary search for weapons and found two pistols under the mattress of the defendant’s bed. After discovering the pistols under the mattress, Captain E. R. Rainey, the officer in charge, delegated Officer William F. Hayes to obtain search warrants for the rooms occupied by the defendant, his wife, and Ayers, and the 1965 Cadillac owned by the defendant. Hayes then obtained the necessary warrants from the police judge of Fort Madison, Chauncy F. Schultz. The subsequent search of the defendant’s room divulged work clothing, shoes, and a dirty jacket, in addition to the two pistols already found. A search of Ayers’ room revealed, among other things, a quantity of loose coins in a paper sack. Items found in the defendant’s car included a flashlight, a three-pound hammer, a tire bar, nail bar, a box of cartridges, and rolls of coins of assorted denominations. It is the search and seizure of the items under these warrants that gave rise to the questions raised in this appeal.

On June 19, 1967, an evidential hearing on a motion to suppress evidence was heard and overruled. It is this ruling that the defendant assigns as error. He contends that the trial court erred in overruling his motion to suppress evidence seized under a search warrant on the grounds that the evidence was illegally obtained, contrary to the provisions of the 4th and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 8, of the Iowa Constitution, and for the further reason that there was no compliance with the provisions of Chapter 751 of the 1966 Code. We find no merit in this contention.

I. It is rudimentary that a search warrant cannot be issued unless upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized. Amendment 4, United States Constitution; Article I, Section 8, Iowa Constitution. Defendant basically contends that there was no probable cause shown upon which a warrant could have been issued because the warrant was issued upon the strength of the applicant’s belief alone. We have had occasion to consider similar contentions in the two recent cases of State v. Lampson, 259 Iowa 147, 149 N.W.2d 116 (1967), and State v. Hall, Iowa, 143 N.W.2d 318 (1966). In those cases we discussed the guidelines which govern probable cause. Probable cause for the issuance of a search warrant exists where the facts and circumstances within the affiant’s knowledge, and of which he has reasonably trustworthy information, are sufficient in themselves to warrant a man of reasonable cause to believe that an offense has been or is being committed. Berger v. State of New York, 388 U.S. 41, 87 S.Ct. 1873, 1881, 18 L.Ed.2d 1040 (1967); Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 93 L.Ed. 1879 (1949); Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 162, 45 S.Ct. 280, 288, 69 L.Ed.2d 543; for extended discussion, see Carlson, The Law of Arrest, Search, and Seizure in Iowa (1967). In United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 107-108, 85 S.Ct. 741, 745-746, 13 L.Ed. 684, 688-689, the court states as to the existence of probable cause:

“While a warrant may issue only upon a finding of ‘probable cause,’ this Court has long held that ‘the term “probable cause” * * * means less than evidence which would justify condemnation,’ Locke v. United States, 7 Cranch 339, 348, 3 L.Ed. 364, and that a finding of ‘probable cause’ may rest upon evidence which is not legally competent in a criminal trial. Draper v. United States, 358 U.S. 307, 311, 79 S.Ct. 329, 332, 3 L.Ed.2d 327. As the Court stated in Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 173, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 1309, 93 L.Ed. 1879, .‘There is a large difference between the two things to be proved [guilt and probable cause], as well as between the tribunals which determine them, and there[691]*691fore a like difference in the quanta and modes of proof required to establish them.’ Thus hearsay may he the basis for issuance of the warrant ‘so long as there * * * [is] a substantial basis for crediting the hearsay.’ Jones v. United States, supra, 362 U.S., at 272, 80 S.Ct., at 736, [4 L.Ed.2d 697, at 708, 78 A.L.R.2d 233], And, in Aguilar we recognized that ‘an affidavit may be based on hearsay information and need not reflect the direct personal observations of the affiant,’ so long as the magistrate is ‘informed of some of the underlying circumstances’ supporting the af-fiant’s conclusions and his belief that any informant involved ‘whose identity need not be disclosed * * * was “credible” or his information “reliable.” ’ Aguilar v. State of Texas, supra, 378 U.S. at 114, 84 S.Ct. at 1514, [12 L.Ed.2d 723, at 729].
“These decisions reflect the recognition that the Fourth Amendment’s commands, like all constitutional requirements, are practical and not abstract. If the teachings of the Court’s cases are to be followed and the constitutional policy served, affidavits for search warrants, such as the one involved here, must be tested and interpreted by magistrates and courts in a commonsense and realistic fashion. They are normally drafted by nonlawyers in the midst and haste- of a criminal investigation. Technical requirements of elaborate specificity once exacted under common law pleadings have no proper place in this area. A grudging or negative attitude by reviewing courts toward warrants will tend to discourage police officers from submitting their evidence to a judicial officer before acting.”

It is also well established that issuance of search warrants by a disinterested magistrate empowered to issue warrants, who can evaluate the existence or nonexistence of probable cause, is to be preferred over the hurried action of peace officers who may happen to make arrests. United States v. Lefkowitz, 285 U.S. 452, 464, 52 S.Ct. 420, 423, 76 L.Ed. 877; Johnson v.

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State v. Oliveri
156 N.W.2d 688 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1968)

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Bluebook (online)
156 N.W.2d 688, 261 Iowa 1140, 1968 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 789, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-oliveri-iowa-1968.