Court Opinion

ID: 9684556
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 14:00:51.876612+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:57.071447
License: Public Domain

ZIMMER, J.
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. An offense is committed under Iowa Code section 321.388 if a registration plate is not visible from fifty feet to the rear. The majority concludes there was no reasonable basis to stop the defendant’s vehicle because the State failed to introduce any evidence that Deputy Nelson observed the defendant’s registration plate from a distance that could reasonably approximate fifty feet prior to initiating a traffic stop. The record reveals Deputy Nelson followed the defendant’s vehicle for approximately one mile around 2:00 a.m. on a country road. From his vantage point behind the vehicle, he observed that the vehicle’s registration plate light was out. After making that observation, he stopped the vehicle. His closer inspection confirmed that the registration plate light was not working at all.
At the suppression hearing, Deputy Nelson was asked how far his vehicle was behind the defendant’s at the time the deputy decided to initiate a stop. Nelson replied: “Well, let me see. I’ll try to give you an estimate distance, but I’d say, you know, three — -three or four car lengths, so probably under a hundred feet or close to it I suppose.” The majority opinion acknowledges that it is difficult “to measure the precise distance between two moving vehicles.” I agree. In this case, it is not surprising that Deputy Nelson was not sure precisely how far his vehicle was behind the defendant’s. I believe the record in this case establishes that he made his observations from no more that 100 feet and perhaps considerably closer. Whatever the exact distance, it is clear that the deputy was close enough to the defendant’s vehicle to observe that the registration plate light was not working. The defendant does not contend that this observation was in error and the trial court *796affirmatively found that the deputy’s observation was correct. I believe an investigatory stop was objectively reasonable under the circumstances presented here and therefore do not believe the stop violated the United States and Iowa constitutions. I would affirm the district court’s ruling denying the motion to suppress.