Opinion ID: 2061240
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Appellate Review of Suppression Rulings.

Text: All issues raised in this appeal arise from the denial of the defendant's pretrial motion to suppress evidence. Our rules of criminal procedure provide for the filing of pretrial motions including motions to suppress. Iowa Rs.Crim. P. 10(2), 11(1). Here, Washburne strenuously argues the trial court should have suppressed the testimony of Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) agent Hedlund as to statements made by the defendant to him and all evidence of blood found on his tennis shoes seized without a search warrant. Hedlund did not testify at the suppression hearing. The State advised the court that Hedlund was in Atlanta, Georgia at a school he was required to attend. At trial, Hedlund testified as to inculpatory statements and admissions made by Washburne, the attending circumstances of those statements, and Washburne's consent to seizure of his tennis shoes. Washburne urges the State failed to present evidence at the suppression hearing that statements made to Hedlund were voluntary and that the State failed to present evidence of his voluntary consent to the seizure of his tennis shoes. The State contends trial evidence may be considered in support of the trial court's denial of the suppression motion. Federal appellate courts have held that they may consider evidence first produced at trial to support a trial court's denial of a motion to suppress. United States v. Han, 74 F.3d 537, 539 (4th Cir.1996) ([F]ederal courts have held uniformly that an appellate tribunal may consider evidence adduced at trial that supports the district judge's ruling.); United States v. Villabona-Garnica, 63 F.3d 1051, 1056 (11th Cir.1995) ([W]e may consider any evidence presented at the trial of the case and are not limited to the evidence introduced at the hearing on the motion.); United States v. Rico, 51 F.3d 495, 504 (5th Cir.1995) ([W]e may consider not only the evidence from the suppression hearing but also evidence presented during the trial.); United States v. Martin, 982 F.2d 1236, 1240 n. 2 (8th Cir.1993); United States v. Corral, 970 F.2d 719, 723 (10th Cir.1992) (As a reviewing court, we are not confined simply to the evidence adduced during the suppression hearing. In evaluating the correctness of the district court's rulings, the appellate court may consider the entire record developed from the trial even though such evidence may not have been presented during the suppression hearing.); United States v. Vargas, 633 F.2d 891, 895 n. 6 (1st Cir.1980) (It apparently is settled law that the validity of an arrest or search can be supported by evidence that was adduced at trial even though this was not presented at the pretrial suppression hearing.); Rocha v. United States, 387 F.2d 1019, 1021 (9th Cir. 1967) (In determining whether a district court erred in admitting evidence claimed to have been seized as a result of an unreasonable search, an appellate court will not ordinarily limit itself to the testimony received at a pretrial motion to suppress, but will also consider pertinent testimony given at the trial.). The federal courts generally refer to Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 162, 45 S.Ct. 280, 288, 69 L.Ed. 543, 555 (1925), in support of appellate court consideration of facts adduced at trial. In Carroll, evidence produced at trial was used to affirm the lower court's refusal to exclude liquor as evidence. The Court stated: If the evidence given on the trial was sufficient, as we think it was, to sustain the introduction of the liquor as evidence, it is immaterial that there was an inadequacy of evidence when application was made for its return. A conviction on adequate and admissible evidence should not be set aside on such a ground. The whole matter was gone into at the trial, so no right of the defendants was infringed. Carroll, 267 U.S. at 162, 45 S.Ct. at 288, 69 L.Ed. at 555. The Seventh Circuit in United States v. Longmire, 761 F.2d 411, 418 (7th Cir.1985), stated: This rule [that evidence adduced only at trial may be used to sustain the denial of a motion to suppress] is an attractive one; because a defendant is entitled to have evidence suppressed only if it was unconstitutionally obtained, sustaining the denial of the motion on the basis of proof of constitutionality adduced at trial avoids a windfall reversal of the defendant's conviction. Relying on federal authorities, we stated [i]n determining whether the court erred in overruling the motion to suppress we may consider not only the evidence adduced in the motion to suppress but the later trial testimony. State v. Donnell, 239 N.W.2d 575, 577-78 (Iowa 1976). We continue to follow this rule. State v. Countryman, 572 N.W.2d 553, 561 (Iowa 1997); State v. Adams, 554 N.W.2d 686, 689 (Iowa 1996); State v. Jackson, 542 N.W.2d 842, 844 (Iowa 1996); State v. Cook, 530 N.W.2d 728, 731 (Iowa 1995); State v. Vincik, 436 N.W.2d 350, 353 (Iowa 1989); State v. Schubert, 346 N.W.2d 30, 33 (Iowa 1984); State v. Brown, 253 N.W.2d 601, 603 (Iowa 1977). As recently stated, [i]t is one of the facts of court life that a pretrial motion in limine is of limited value unless it is sustained. State v. Brown, 569 N.W.2d 113, 118 (Iowa 1997). We have considered evidence received at trial in support of the court's denial of a motion to suppress where there is a challenge to the legality of a custodial statement, see Schubert, 346 N.W.2d at 33, and a challenge to the legality of the search and seizure of physical evidence, see Vincik, 436 N.W.2d at 353.