Title: State v. Bousman
Citation: 387 N.W.2d 605
Docket Number: 85-537
State: Iowa
Issuer: Iowa Supreme Court
Date: May 21, 1986

387 N.W.2d 605 (1986) STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Edward Harrison BOUSMAN, Appellant. No. 85-537. Supreme Court of Iowa. May 21, 1986. *606 Charles L. Harrington, Appellate Defender, and Raymond E. Rogers, Asst. Appellate Defender, for appellant. Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., Elizabeth E. Ciebell, Asst. Atty. Gen., G. Wylie Pillers III, Co. Atty., and Gary J. Rolfes, Asst. Co. Atty., for appellee. Considered by UHLENHOPP, P.J., and McGIVERIN, LARSON, SCHULTZ, and CARTER, JJ. UHLENHOPP, Justice. This appeal involves a challenge to the validity of a search warrant. The police in Clinton, Iowa, received information, which we will later detail, concerning home burglaries in Clinton by Keith and Charles Bousman and James Smith, concerning a trip by some of these men to Las Vegas, Nevada, to sell the loot, and concerning another such trip to Las Vegas to be taken with another of the Bousman brothers, defendant Edward Harrison Bousman. On December 25, 1983, sixteen carved Chinese soapstone vases were stolen from the home of Julia Voelpel in Clinton. Clinton Police Officer David Speakman had defendant under surveillance on the evening of February 10, 1984. He saw defendant and his wife loading articles into defendant's Lincoln automobile at defendant's home. Defendant and his wife then drove to a service station and bought gasoline. Later that evening, Officer Burton Simmons took over surveillance. He saw defendant and wife go into a tavern and speak with Charles Bousman, and later leave the tavern. Defendant and wife then drove to the home of Michael Diettrick, entered, and emerged shortly carrying a suitcase and a box, which they placed in the trunk of the Lincoln. Next they drove to their home and to a restaurant, then picked up another couple and their baggage, and drove out of town. Officers followed defendant's car into the country, where they stopped it and detained the passengers while other officers sought a warrant to search the car. The other officers presented an affidavit to a district judge, Pelton, J. We set out the relevant portion of the affidavit in extenso: [O]fficers obtained information from Keith Bousman that his brother Charles Bousman and a man known as James Milton "Mushy" Smith, have been involved in many home burglaries in Clinton. Officers have also been told by Lottie McKenzie, Nee/Bousman, that her home was burglarized by Charles Bousman and James Smith. She also said that she has information that Charles Bousman and James Smith burglarized a home owned by Lee Sullens and took a safe containing coins. This same information also was given to officers by Keith Bousman. Mrs. Orville Bousman, mother of Charles, Lottie and Keith and Edward has also told officers that she has knowledge that her son Charles has taken part in many burglaries specifically the burglaries listed above and another burglary of the Julia Voelpel home in which a pistol and some valuable figurines were taken. Mrs. Voelpel is a relative of the Bousmans. Information on burglaries included two burglaries involving Don Bartels, Clinton jeweler who owns Dons Jewelry store on Main Ave. *607 In the first burglary Bartels' home was broken into and jewelry was taken. In the second burglary Bartels' store was entered and more jewelry was taken. Information from Keith Bousman, on Lee Sullens' home burglary indicated that Charles Bousman and James Smith took most of the coins obtained from that home to Las Vegas where they were sold along with the proceeds of other burglaries. Keith Bousman has admitted to police that he broke into Don's Jewelry store on Main Ave. in Clinton and took many rings. He sold some of the rings to "Doc" Wiersema of Clinton and Fulton, Ill. The rest of the rings were sold by Keith Bousman to Charles Bousman. When authorities discovered that Keith Bousman and others had perpetrated the burglary of Dons, Keith Bousman, in keeping with a plea agreement with the Clinton County Attorney, attempted to get the rings back from Doc Wiersema. Wiersema told Keith Bousman that he had sold all the rings that he had to Charles Bousman. Keith Bousman has told police that Charles Bousman and James Smith transported stolen articles worth several thousand dollars to Las Vegas in a car and returned with a lot of money. Keith Bousman, Lottie Bousman and Mrs. Orville Bousman all say that Charles and James Smith are preparing to take another load of stolen articles to Las Vegas and that they are going to go with another of the Bousman brothers, Ed Bousman. Further that they are going to use Ed's car, a 1974 dark over white Lincoln Continental with Iowa License BLJ880. Officers tonight have been watching the Ed Bousman home and have seen Bousman and a woman loading articles into the white Continental, in the front and back seat. Officers watched the car leave the home, go to a store and then to a gas station where Ed Bousman was seen putting gas in the car and checking under the hood of the car. The car then went to another gas station where Ed Bousman got a six pack of beer and a bag of ice. Keith Bousman also told officers that Charles Bousman and James Smith had burglarized a home owned by Robert Starbuck of Clinton in which a quantity of coins were stolen. Keith Bousman further stated that some of those coins were sold by Charles Bousman to a man named Diettrick in Camanche, Iowa. Officers acting on that information contacted Diettrick and found that Charles Bousman had sold him some coins. The coins were identified by Robert Starbuck as being his and a warrant was obtained for Charles Bousman based on that information. The information from Lottie McKenzie and from Mrs. Orville Bousman was obtained by police on the present date, 021084. Keith Bousman gave police the information herein stated on 020884. Don's Jewelry store was broken into on 011084. Information came to police on 020184 that Keith Bousman was involved in that burglary. The Julia Voelpel home burglary was on 122583. The Lee Sullens home burglary was on 011084. The Robert Starbuck burglary was on 070183. The burglary of Don Bartels' home was 112883. This warrant application has been prepared on 021084. The judge issued a warrant and endorsed his findings on it, which state in relevant part: The officers took the warrant to the scene of the Lincoln, and searched the vehicle. They discovered the suitcase and box, and inside those containers they found fourteen vases which Voelpel later identified as belonging to her. The county attorney charged defendant (and his wife) with second-degree theft. Iowa Code §§ 714.1(4), 714.2(2) (1983). Defendant moved to suppress the items discovered in the search. On May 21, 1984, the district court, Werling, J., overruled the motion and stated inter alia: In March 1985 defendant went on trial before the district court, Carstensen, J., and a jury. On March 6, 1985, the jury found defendant guilty. On March 25, 1985, the court passed sentence, and on April 8, 1985, defendant appealed. The questions in the appeal are whether Judge Pelton lawfully issued the search warrant and Judge Werling correctly overruled the motion to suppress, and whether Judge Carstensen properly admitted the vases into evidence. We review de novo. State v. Cullison, 227 N.W.2d 121, 127 (Iowa 1975). *610 I. The test. Cases of this kind contain two basic issues: whether items seized were obtained in violation of the constitutional search and seizure clause and, if so, whether the items, although otherwise relevant and admissible, are inadmissible in a subsequent trial. This case involves the first issue. More specifically, the question is whether the warrant to search the Lincoln was constitutionally infirm. Both the United States and the Iowa Constitutions prohibit the issuance of a search warrant except on "probable cause". U.S. Const. amend. 4; Iowa Const. art. I, § 8. While the officers in this case had some personal knowledge, they relied mainly in obtaining the warrant on information from others, and Judge Pelton issued the warrant largely on that basis. Over the course of time the United States Supreme Court developed a two-pronged test regarding probable cause when information from informants is used. Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S. Ct. 584, 21 L. Ed. 2d 637 (1969); Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S. Ct. 1509, 12 L. Ed. 2d 723 (1964). Under Spinelli and Aguilar, the issuing judicial officer must be informed of facts (1) from which the informant reached his conclusions, and (2) from which the affiant concluded the informant was reliable. State v. McManus, 243 N.W.2d 575, 577-78 (Iowa 1976). More recently the United States Supreme Court adopted a broader approach of the totality of the circumstances as disclosed by the affidavit. After reciting its rationale, the Court stated in Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238-39, 103 S. Ct. 2317, 2332, 76 L. Ed. 2d 527, 548, rehearing denied, 463 U.S. 1237, 104 S. Ct. 33, 77 L. Ed. 2d 1453 (1983): Gates was decided on June 8, 1983. We applied Gates in State v. Luter, 346 N.W.2d 802 (Iowa 1984), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 105 S. Ct. 116, 83 L. Ed. 2d 59. In the instant case the incident charged occurred on February 11, 1984, the motion to suppress was overruled on May 21, 1984, the trial took place in March 1985, judgment was rendered on March 25, 1985, and notice of appeal was filed on April 8, 1985. II. The facts. We regard Gates as applicable under the Iowa as well as the United States Constitutions. Under the Gates rule, Judge Pelton had to make a practical, common-sense decision whether, given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit before him, including the "veracity" and "basis of knowledge" of the persons supplying hearsay information, a "fair probability" existed that evidence of a crime would be found in the Lincoln. As a practical, common-sense matter, we agree with Judges Pelton and Werling that a fair probability did exist, for the reasons endorsed by Judge Pelton on the warrant and stated by Judge Werling in overruling the subsequent motion. We have already quoted those reasons, and no necessity exists to repeat them here. We also recall statements in Spinelli, 393 U.S. at 419, 89 S. Ct. at 591, 21 L. Ed. 2d at 645 ("magistrate's determination of probable cause should be paid great deference by reviewing courts"), and in United States v. Ventresca, 380 *611 U.S. 102, 108, 109, 85 S. Ct. 741, 746, 13 L. Ed. 2d 684, 689 (1965) (voicing disapproval of a "grudging or negative attitude by reviewing courts toward warrants" and of interpreting affidavits "in a hyper-technical rather than a common-sense, manner"). We hold that the warrant issued on probable cause. III. Subsequent legal developments. Both sides cite legal developments in the field of search and seizure which occurred after the conviction in this case. On July 5, 1984, the United States Supreme Court decided a case in which a magistrate had issued a warrant without probable cause but in which the officers had acted in good faith. The Court proceeded to the second basic issue (effect of invalidity of warrant), refused to apply the exclusionary rule, and adopted a "good faith" rule. United States v. Leon, ___ U.S. ___, 104 S. Ct. 3405, 3423, 82 L. Ed. 2d 677, 700-01 ("In the absence of an allegation that the magistrate abandoned his detached and neutral role, suppression is appropriate only if the officers were dishonest or reckless in preparing their affidavit or could not have harbored an objectively reasonable belief in the existence of probable cause."). The State urges us to adopt the Leon rule in the present case. We find no necessity to consider that contention, as we have held that probable cause did exist here and that the warrant was valid. Defendant cites an amendment to section 808.3 of the Iowa Code which became effective July 1, 1985. Section 808.3 deals with applications for search warrants. The General Assembly added a clause to the section that if the grounds are supplied by an informant the magistrate "shall include a determination that the information appears credible either because the sworn testimony indicates that the informant has given reliable information on previous occasions or because the informant or the information provided by the informant appears credible for reasons specified by the magistrate." Iowa Code § 808.3 (1985 Supp.). Defendant couples the quoted amendment with a clause in rule 11 of the Iowa rules of criminal procedure: a person may move to suppress things obtained by illegal search and seizure and "[i]f the motion is granted" the things "shall not be admissible in evidence at any hearing or trial." See Kain v. State, 378 N.W.2d 900, 903 (Iowa 1985). We hold that the statutory amendment did not apply to this search and seizure as the amendment became effective after the search and seizure had occurred and after the case had gone to judgment. See also Iowa Code § 4.13 (general savings provision). Thus we have no necessity to construe the statutory amendment. Moreover, Judge Pelton's findings adequately comport with the amendment in any event. The warrant properly issued. We uphold the conviction. AFFIRMED.