Opinion ID: 1693118
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Void for Vagueness Claim

Text: Kinkead also argues the stop of his vehicle should be held invalid and the evidence obtained therefrom rendered inadmissible on the ground that the statute on which the stop was based is unconstitutionally vague. The State argues that Kinkead failed to preserve error on his claim that Iowa Code section 321.436 is unconstitutionally vague, alleging that the claim was neither raised by the defendant at the district court level, nor ruled on by the district court. We agree with the State's contention and hold that Kinkead failed to preserve error on the vagueness issue and thus is barred from presenting the issue on appeal. From our de novo review of the record, we find no indication that Kinkead's counsel raised the issue of the constitutionality of Iowa Code section 321.436 at any time during the proceedings. There was no mention of the vagueness issue in Kinkead's motion to suppress, nor was it raised at the suppression hearing. Furthermore, because the trial was based solely on the minutes of testimony prepared by the prosecutor, there is no mention of the vagueness issue in that portion of the record. Kinkead's attempt in his brief for this court to merge the vagueness issue with his argument alleging that Trooper Miller did not have a reasonable, articulable suspicion to make the stop is unavailing. The arguments are separate and distinct bases for suppression of the evidence and both arguments should have been raised at the district court level. Our court has consistently held that a party who fails to alert the district court to its contentions at trial cannot thereafter rely on those contentions to seek reversal on appeal. State v. Rosenstiel, 473 N.W.2d 59, 61 (Iowa 1991) (citations omitted). Allowing a defendant to raise an issue for the first time on appeal would seriously undermine the district court's original jurisdiction. Id. The fact that Kinkead's argument is constitutional in nature matters not to our analysis of this issue. Our rule of error preservation applies with equal strength to constitutional issues. State v. Halliburton, 539 N.W.2d 339, 343 (Iowa 1995). We find that Kinkead failed to preserve error on his contention that Iowa Code section 321.436 is unconstitutionally vague.