State v. Wessling

150 N.W.2d 301, 260 Iowa 1244, 1967 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 800
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMay 2, 1967
Docket52428
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 150 N.W.2d 301 (State v. Wessling) 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. Wessling, 150 N.W.2d 301, 260 Iowa 1244, 1967 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 800 (iowa 1967).

Opinion

Snell, J.

Appellant, Albert Charles Wessling, was by information charged with breaking and entering in violation of section 708.8,1962 Code of Iowa, and with being a habitual felon in violation of section 747.1, Code of Iowa. Following trials and adverse jury verdicts he was sentenced and now appeals.

Appellant objected to being referred to as the defendant but he was such and we will so refer to him.

What defendant calls “propositions relied upon for reversal” we will consider as allegations of error.

*1247 Defendant urges 13 different grounds for reversal. They are reduced to nine in his statement of issues on appeal Some are unique, some are repetitious in that they involve comparable problems, none has sufficient merit for reversal.

At 3:15 a.m. on May 12, 1965, an electric alarm at a bowling alley next door to the Moose Club Lodge in Webster City alerted the police. Officers Bordwell and Spellmeyer were the first to arrive at the scene. They observed someone running in the pasture north of the bowling alley. Officer Bordwell then went to the fence but saw no one. He stayed in that vicinity for 20 to 30 minutes. He then went on patrol and found on a nearby driveway a 1956 Chevrolet that - defendant had borrowed from a friend and had been using.

Officer Bordwell returned to the bowling alley where he again saw someone running. Together with Chief Neff he went to the second fence and found a canvas duffel bag containing a crowbar, hammer and other tools. They followed a set of footprints to the east edge of the field. Along the fence line they lost the prints. They crossed the fence and went into a ravine east of the river and found a set of tracks a couple of hundred yards from where they lost them going east.' Chief Neff followed the prints on the river and Officer Bordwell started up on the bank. They both observed the defendant at the same time hiding in a little cave or culvert area about 100 feet west of the river. Defendant said he had been fishing but had no equipment with him.

The defendant had in his possession a blue-colored- jacket which he was sitting on. He claimed that it did not belong to him.

Defendant was taken into custody. He was advised “that he had a right to an attorney and that he did not have to make any statement because it could be used against him in court.”

Officer Beek testified that he first saw the defendant at the police station about 5 a.m. He advised the defendant of his constitutional rights. Defendant was told he could use the telephone. Defendant answered, “I know that.” The defendant stated he would call-his attorney later. He had $260 in his billfold at that time. In the cell área the defendant was asked to *1248 remove his clothes with the exception, of his undershorts and T-shirt. The clothes, including the jacket, were placed in plastic bags and sent to the FBI.

Defendant was fully advised and aware of his rights.

In a later conversation with Officer Beek defendant said, “You shouldn’t come to conclusions like this. We are on opposite bowling teams.”

The officers learned, while at breakfast at approximately 6:30 or 7 o’clock, that the Moose Lodge had been broken into.

Officer Kennedy testified that at about 7 to 7:30 a.m. he went to the Moose Lodge and searched the area in the rear; that he crossed one fence and then went to a fence by the plowed field. He saw tracks leading into the plowed field. Nickels, dimes and quarters were scattered along the footprints. When picked up they totalled about $35. He saw tracks leading into the plowed field. The footprints led to the north and northwest. They then went east in a furrow of the plowed ground which was soft. The tracks were clear until they went east and then looked like knee and hand prints to the east line of the plowed field. In a furrow he found a pair of gloves twisted together.

At about 7 a.m. Chief Neff returned to the Moose Club Lodge. He took the strike plate and wood from the door and took a fragment of blue cloth from the fence behind the Moose Lodge, 200 to 250 feet from where the tools were found. He also took soil samples from the plowed field (State’s Exhibit “X”). The several exhibits were mailed to FBI laboratories in Washington, D. C., for analysis.

Special Agent Poppleton of the FBI testified as an expert in toolmark identification. He examined all of the tools submitted to him and stated conclusively that the tool marks on the strike plate from the Moose Lodge door were made by a screwdriver (State’s Exhibit “0”), which was among the tools found by the fence behind the Moose Lodge.

Special Agent Miller of the FBI laboratory in Washington testified that a chemical analysis of the paint from State’s Exhibit “O”, the screwdriver, had paint on it from the wood and strike plate taken from the door. He also concluded that the soil removed from the jacket pockets was exactly the same as the *1249 soil sample, State’s Exhibit “X”. The soil samples in defendant’s shoes, gloves and trousers were too small and limited for a complete mineralogical analysis or chemical testing.

Special Agent Duckett of the FBI testified as an expert witness that the material in State’s Exhibit “J”, a piece of torn cloth, corresponded exactly with the material found in the right sleeve of the jacket, State’s Exhibit “L”. He found bits of suede leather in the pockets of the jacket that matched exactly the suede gloves found in the plowed field.

Because of the defendant’s challenge to the trial court’s procedure we note the chronological record.

On May 12, 1965, an information was filed in police court charging defendant with breaking and entering the Moose Club.

On May 13, 1965, he filed an appearance bond.

On October 4, 1965, a verified and approved county attorney’s information was filed in district court accusing defendant of breaking and entering the Moose Lodge Club.

The court’s calendar entry on October 8, 1965, is as follows:

“Defendant appeared in court with his attorney Jim Lawyer, admits receipt of a copy of the information, informed under true name, waives formal arraignment & requests time in which to plead. Defendant granted until 1:15 p.m. Oct. 14th to plead to information.”

On October 14 defendant filed a written plea of “not guilty” and a motion for continuance for trial at the next term of court. The case by consent was continued until the November term of court.

' According to the clerk’s filing stamp on December 9, 1965, two new informations against defendant were filed in the same case. For some unexplained reason, but which we consider of little significance, there is a slight discrepancy in the dates written in the various endorsements thereon. The county attorney’s signature, the date of the judge’s approval and the amount of bail appear to have been written with a coarse-pointed pen. The date of the county attorney’s verification, the penwritten filing date of the information and the signatures of the deputy clerk appear to have been written with a fine-pointed pen. Neither appears the same as the judge’s signature.

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Bluebook (online)
150 N.W.2d 301, 260 Iowa 1244, 1967 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 800, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wessling-iowa-1967.