Opinion ID: 1701667
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Did trial court err in overruling defendant's motion to suppress the evidentiary use of tires from his pickup?

Text: We have already noted defendant doubleparked his pickup in a public street the morning after the break-in. The investigating officer saw on the open bed of the truck scrap metal similar to that stolen at Solomons. He observed the two rear tires would make the distinctive tracks found at the site of the theft. Following defendant's arrest the pickup was taken to the police station where the two tires were removed and held for evidence. Defendant first argues his motion to suppress evidentiary use of the tires should have been sustained because he was not given a receipt upon their seizure. We have adversely disposed of an identical issue in division III. But defendant also contends his fourth amendment rights were violated by a search of his pickup and seizure of his tires. He cites authorities indicating this situation does not squarely fall within the warrantless search exceptions of search incident to an arrest, the Carroll doctrine, or plain view. Nonetheless, we are convinced the search in this instance, and the tire seizure, escape constitutional interdiction through the rationale in Cardwell v. Lewis, 417 U.S. 583, 94 S.Ct. 2464, 41 L.Ed.2d 325 (1974). There the defendant parked his car in a public lot and went to a police station where he was subsequently arrested. The police, without search warrant, impounded his auto. The next day they examined its tires and took paint scrapings from the body. The United States Supreme Court in Cardwell noted the right to privacy is the touchstone in any consideration of a fourth amendment violation, recognized the less stringent requirements relating to vehicles, and observed the search in issue related only to the exterior of the car. It concluded the search was reasonable. The court further reasoned that when examination of the exterior of the vehicle upon probable cause was reasonable, use of the evidence thereby obtained was not subject to constitutional barrier because the examination followed a prior impoundment of the automobile. In attempting to claim items openly exposed on the exterior of his double-parked pickup carry a fourth amendment protection, defendant displays an overly-sensitized and wholly unwarranted expectation of privacy. What we said in State v. Davis, 228 N.W.2d 67, 72 (Iowa 1975) is directly applicable: However, the place where the seized property is located may be so exposed as to immediately negate any reasonable expectation of privacy, thus, the `open field' situation is presented. As such evidence is not safeguarded by the constitution it may be seized without further justification. No intrusion in the constitutional sense is involved. See State v. Raymond, 258 Iowa 1339, 1347, 142 N.W.2d 444, 448 (1966), quoting from United States v. Williams, 314 F.2d 795, 798 (6 Cir. 1963) (`It is not a search to observe that which occurs openly in a public place and which is fully disclosed to visual observation'); see also Air Pollution Variance Board v. Western Alfalfa Corporation, 416 U.S. 861, 94 S.Ct. 2114, 40 L.Ed.2d 607 (1974); Hester v. United States, 265 U.S. 57, 44 S.Ct. 445, 68 L.Ed. 898 (1924); State v. Neely, 261 Iowa 1107, 1112, 156 N.W.2d 840, 843 (1968); cf. United States v. Evans, 447 F.2d 129, 131-132 (8 Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 1047, 92 S.Ct. 727, 30 L.Ed.2d 735 (1972). Although there was no search conducted by the officer here, this fact does not immunize his actions from constitutional challenge. The fourth amendment protects against unreasonable seizures as well as unreasonable searches, thus we must decide whether under the facts of this case seizure of defendant's pickup was reasonable. This requires a determination whether the seizing officer had probable cause to believe defendant's pickup had been used in the commission of an offense. United States v. Evans, supra at 131. The facts on which probable cause could be based are these: officer Lindauer saw the unusual tire tracks at the Solomon Company and the matching tires on defendant's pickup; he knew that a large quantity of copper wire was stolen and he saw such material openly visible on defendant's pickup; and defendant's pickup was parked outside another scrap metal company the same morning the theft was discovered. We hold that, under these circumstances, probable cause to seize the pickup existed, and defendant's motion to suppress as it related to the pickup tires was properly overruled.