Court Opinion

ID: 9658118
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 20:47:20.830794+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:51.700621
License: Public Domain

HARRIS, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. The majority would exonerate public intoxication, even though committed on a public street, on the ground that the act occurred in an automobile. The question whether a motor vehicle on a public street is a public place within the meaning of a criminal statute has been addressed by many courts. The overwhelming majority conclude an automobile on the highway is a public place. Berry v. City of Springdale, 381 S.W.2d 745, 747, 238 Ark. 328, 330 (1964) (defendant sitting in truck ten to twenty-five feet from traveled portion of highway was a “public place” for purposes of intoxication); People v. Belanger, 52 Cal.Rptr. 660, 664, 243 Cal.App.2d 654, 658 (1966) (parked car on public street was a “public place” in prosecution for public intoxication); Miles v. State, 247 Ind. 423, 425, 216 N.E.2d 847, 849 (1966) (intoxicated person found asleep in a parked car was in a public place for purpose of public intoxication); Atkins v. State, 451 N.E.2d 55, 56 (Ind.App.1983) (passenger in automobile traveling on public highway was in “public place” for purposes of public intoxication); Tackett v. Commonwealth, 261 S.W.2d 298, 300 (Ky.1953) (automobile stopped partly off highway was “public place” so that passenger was guilty of public intoxication); People v. Johnson, 12 Mich.App. 139, 143-44, 162 N.W.2d 667, 669 (1968) (intoxicated person found asleep in parked car was in “public place for purpose of public intoxication”). The subject also comes up in the context of other criminal offenses said to be committed in an automobile on a public street. People v. Norris, 152 Cal.Rptr. 134, 139, 88 Cal.App.3d Supp. 32, 40 (1978) (automobile parked on public street was a “public place” for purposes of soliciting an act of prostitution); Key v. State, 131 Ga.App. 126, 127, 205 S.E.2d 510, 511 (1974) (car with closed doors on school ground was a “public place” in prosecution for public indecency). There is a contrary view, but it is recognized as distinctly minority. See Annotation, Location of Offense as “Public” Within Requirement of Enactments Against Drunkenness, 8 A.L.R.3d 930, 938-39 (1966).
We held that an automobile was a public place in State v. Kersh, 313 N.W.2d 566, 568 (Iowa 1981), which the majority seeks *58to distinguish on the ground that Kersh was not arrested, as we stated he could have been, for public intoxication, but rather for carrying a concealed weapon. Surely if an automobile on the street or highway is a public place in one situation, it should be in the other.
Strong public policy supports effective law enforcement on streets and highways. This is a poor time and a particularly poor point on which to adopt a small minority view, especially one contrary to our own case law. We should reverse.