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Electronic and mechanical
eavesdropping -- constitutionality of statute and sufficiency
of evidence when audiotape was lost
State v. Philpott, ___N.W.2d ___ (Iowa 2005) (8/19/2005).
[1] Due process and equal protection challenges rejected.
The Supreme Court rejects defendant's claims that the statute
under which she was convicted is vague and violated due
process and equal protection: with respect to the latter,
defendant failed to identify that any similar class of persons
were treated more favorably under the act than she was; with
respect to her due process claims, (1) the statute does not
allow for conviction of a person who might accidentally record
a conversation, which was the focus of the due process
argument, and (2) the words used in the statute as applied are
not vague. [2] Sufficiency of evidence -- audio tape
lost. Defendant's guilt properly established by evidence
in the record regarding the existence, nature and
circumstances according to which she was found to have
illegally taped conversations outside her presence
notwithstanding the loss of the audiotape prior to trial.
Drug tax stamp -- no crime
where product is unfinished
State v. Rhiner, 670 N.W.2d 425 (Iowa 8/26/2003).
Drug tax stamp -- no crime where product is unfinished.
Where the manufacturing process necessary to make a drug a
“usable product” has not been completed at the time of
seizure, the statute defining the offense does not require a
drug tax stamp.
Child endangerment -- meth-addicted
caretaker as defendant
State v. Petithory, ___N.W.2d ___ (Iowa 2005) (9/26/2005)
Meth-addicted defendant caring for own children and entrusting
their care to another meth user. Sufficient
evidence supported defendant's conviction of child
endangerment where defendant knowingly or at least recklessly
exposed his young children to a danger against which they
could not protect themselves -- caretakers (including himself)
suffering from the effects and after-effects of drug abuse.
("The dangers of leaving one's children in the custody of
actively using methamphetamine addicts cannot be denied. No
parent should leave his small children in the care of a meth
addict-the hazards are too great.")
Warrantless (Terry)
stop: grounds later prove false or mistaken -- effect on
stop
State
v. Lloyd, 701 N.W.2d 698 (Iowa 2005) (8/5/2005).
Stop based on defendant's failure to display valid license
plate. Stop based on defendant's failure to display valid
license plate was not invalidated by fact that officer
mistakenly did not see temporary plate taped to back window.
Had the facts been as the officer believed them in initiating
the stop, probable cause would have existed for the stop. The
only remaining question was whether the mistake was
objectively reasonable, which it was given the time of the
stop (2:20 a.m.) such that it was dark. (Court reviews
case law regarding the role mistake plays in claims of invalid
traffic stops: "See, e.g., State v. Kinkead, 570 N.W.2d 97,
101 (Iowa 1997) ('We have . . . held [before] that a mistaken
basis for a stop does not necessarily render the stop invalid,
but is merely a factor to consider in the reasonable suspicion
analysis.'); State v. Melohn, 516 N.W.2d 24, 25 (Iowa 1994)
(holding that it was reasonable for police to stop a vehicle
speeding away from the vicinity of gunshots, even though the
facts later showed the individual was not involved in the
gunfire); State v. Jackson, 315 N.W.2d 766, 767 (Iowa 1982)
(holding as valid an officer's stop of a vehicle for failure
to display license plates, even though the officer later
learned the vehicle was displaying proper temporary plates);
see also State v. Ewoldt, 448 N.W.2d 676, 678 (Iowa Ct. App.
1989) ('Information sufficient to establish reasonable cause
to stop is not defeated by an after-the-fact showing that the
information was false.')").
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