Court Opinion

ID: 9716719
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:49:07.663455+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:48.355307
License: Public Domain

APPEL, Justice
(specially concurring).
I concur with the opinion of Justice Wiggins in this case. I write separately to emphasize the need for criminal counsel to explore thoroughly the possibility that this court will approach the Iowa Constitution in a different fashion than the United States Supreme Court approaches parallel provisions of the Federal Constitution. Indeed, this case demonstrates why this court should exercise its independent judgment under the Iowa Constitution and not necessarily follow the majority of the United States Supreme Court.
Thirty years ago, Justice William Brennan, Jr., wrote a seminal article in the pages of the Harvard Law Review. See William J. Brennan, Jr., State Constitutions and the Protection of Individual Rights, 90 Harv. L.Rev. 489 (1977). In that article, Justice Brennan urged the development of a body of state constitutional law independent of federal interpretation. Id. at 502. Since the article’s publication, a large body of state constitutional law has emerged in which state courts have charted an independent path in interpreting provisions of state constitutions that are identical or similar to provisions of the Federal Constitution. See, e.g., *895Hans A. Linde, The State and the Federal Courts in Governance: Vive la Dijférence!, 46 Wm. & Mary L.Rev. 1278 (2005); Robert K. Fitzpatrick, Neither Icarus Nor Ostrich: State Constitutions as an Independent Source of Individual Rights, 79 N.Y.U. L.Rev. 1833 (2004); William J. Brennan, Jr., The Bill of Rights and the States: The Revival of State Constitutions as Guardians of Individual Rights, 61 N.Y.U. L.Rev. 535 (1986).
This court in recent years has been willing to forge its own course on state constitutional interpretation. For example, we have refused to follow the Supreme Court in adopting a good faith exception to the exclusionary rule in the context of an illegal search under the Iowa Constitution. See State v. Cline, 617 N.W.2d 277, 285-93 (Iowa 2000), overruled on other grounds by State v. Turner, 630 N.W.2d 601, 606 n. 2 (Iowa 2001). Cline represents an unmistakable message to defendants and their lawyers that this court is prepared to depart from the precedents of the Supreme Court on major issues of constitutional law. This message of independence was reinforced in Racing Association of Central Iowa v. Fitzgerald, 675 N.W.2d 1, 4-5 (Iowa 2004) [hereinafter RACI II], when we refused to follow a unanimous opinion of the Supreme Court regarding the federal Equal Protection Clause when we were called upon to apply the equal protection clause under our state constitution. We have recently stated in plain terms that we jealously guard our right and duty to differ in appropriate cases from the interpretation of federal constitutional provisions. State v. Wilkes, 756 N.W.2d 838, 842, n. 1 (Iowa 2008).
In light of our jealously guarded right and duty to differ in our interpretation of state constitutional provisions, counsel should be attentive to the possibility that we might not follow Supreme Court precedent in cases involving the interpretation of the Iowa Constitution. Instead of following the approach of the Supreme Court, we might fashion an independent state rule based, in whole or in part, upon a dissenting opinion of the Supreme Court, upon an alternate approach utilized by other state supreme courts under state constitutional provisions similar to Iowa’s, upon analysis of law found in the academic literature, or upon our collective constitutional common sense distilled from law, logic, and experience. When a defendant has a potential claim under both the United States and Iowa Constitutions, counsel should ordinarily scour these sources to determine if there is a solid legal basis for asserting an independent interpretation of the Iowa Constitution which would be more beneficial to the accused than is available under the Federal Constitution.
In raising a constitutional claim under the state constitution, counsel should do more than simply cite the correct provision of the Iowa Constitution. When fashioning an interpretation of a state constitutional provision independent of federal case law, the adjudicative process is best advanced on reasoned argument which has been vetted through the adversarial process. As a result, because of our prudential concern that the issue may not be fully illuminated without a developed record and briefing, we generally decline to consider an independent state constitutional standard based upon a mere citation to the applicable state constitutional provision. Id.; In re Det. of Garren, 620 N.W.2d 275, 280 n. 1 (Iowa 2000).
This case classically illustrates the need to explore an independent analysis under the state constitution. A question lurking behind this case is whether this court would today follow the approach of Davis v. United States, 512 U.S. 452, 114 S.Ct. 2350, 129 L.Ed.2d 362 (1994), in interpret*896ing the Iowa Constitution. In Davis, a bare majority of the United States Supreme Court decided that law enforcement had no obligation to clarify an ambiguous request for counsel made by an accused in custody after he had provided a valid waiver of his right to counsel under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Davis, 512 U.S. at 459, 114 S.Ct. at 2355, 129 L.Ed.2d at 371-72. The majority declined to adopt the position advocated by the Department of Justice and other law enforcement authorities that when a suspect ambiguously requests a right to counsel, law enforcement must ask clarifying questions with the sole purpose of resolving the ambiguity. Id. at 461, 114 S.Ct. at 2356, 129 L.Ed.2d at 373.
Justice Souter, joined by three colleagues, wrote a powerful dissent. He wrote that the majority approach would penalize those with poor English, those who were woefully ignorant, and those who were intimidated by the custodial setting. Id. at 469-70, 114 S.Ct. at 2360-61, 129 L.Ed.2d at 378 (Souter, J., dissenting). Regarding the need for clarity, Justice Souter questioned the majority approach, noting the distinction between a clear and an ambiguous request for counsel, as this case powerfully demonstrates, is not always apparent. Id. at 474 n. 7, 114 S.Ct. at 2363 n. 7, 129 L.Ed.2d at 381 n. 7. Justice Souter made the common sense observation that if an ambiguity did emerge, it should be resolved not by a police officer, but by the person “most competent to resolve the ambiguity,” namely, the suspect himself. Id. at 475, 114 S.Ct. at 2363, 129 L.Ed.2d at 381-82.
This court followed the majority approach in Davis in interpreting the Iowa Constitution in State v. Morgan, 559 N.W.2d 603, 608 (Iowa 1997). I question Morgan's continued vitality. Morgan is a conclusory opinion with no analysis of the underlying issue. It rests solely upon the authority of Davis, a 5-4 decision. Further, it was decided at a time when this court routinely adopted federal constitutional precedent as a basis for decisions under the Iowa Constitution. Since Morgan was decided, this court has demonstrated in Cline and RAC I II a greater willingness to depart from federal precedents on important state constitutional questions than it had shown in the past.
Further, a large and growing body of academic and judicial writing has emerged sharply critical of Davis. The literature suggests that the approach in Davis is inconsistent with Miranda, lacks clarity, makes important constitutional rights turn on linguistic finery, employs selective literalism not found in other branches of criminal law, and disproportionately impacts members of lower socioeconomic classes. See, e.g., David Aram Kaiser & Paul Lufkin, Deconstructing Davis v. United States, Intention and Meaning in Ambiguous Requests for Counsel, 32 Hastings Const. L.Q. 737, 756-58 (2005); Peter M. Tiersma & Lawrence M. Solan, Cops and Robbers: Selective Literalism in American Criminal Law, 38 Law & Soc’y Rev. 229, 249 (2004); Wayne D. Holly, Ambiguous Invocations of the Right to Remain Silent: A Post-Davis Analysis and Proposal, 29 Seton Hall L.Rev. 558, 591 (1998).
In addition, after Morgan was decided, two state supreme courts refused to follow Davis under their respective state constitutions or common law in cogent opinions. See State v. Risk, 598 N.W.2d 642, 648-49 (Minn.1999); State v. Chew, 150 N.J. 30, 695 A.2d 1301, 1318 (1997). Some courts, while unwilling to confront the majority opinion in Davis directly, have held that Davis applies only where an accused has first made a valid waiver, and then sought to retract it. See, e.g., United States v. *897Cheely, 36 F.3d 1439, 1448 (9th Cir.1994); State v. Collins, 937 So.2d 86, 92 (Ala.Crim.App.2005); Freeman v. State, 158 Md.App. 402, 857 A.2d 557, 572-73 (2004); State v. Leyva, 951 P.2d 738, 745 (Utah 1997).
Counsel below did not claim that Effler’s interrogation violated the state constitution, but relied solely on the applicable provisions of the federal constitution. As a result, the question on appeal is whether the failure to rely on the state constitution amounts to ineffective assistance of counsel. In order to establish ineffective assistance of counsel, Effler must show that his lawyer failed to perform an essential duty and that he was prejudiced by the inadequate representation. State v. Lane, 743 N.W.2d 178, 183 (Iowa 2007). While there is a strong presumption of counsel’s competence, Osborn v. State, 573 N.W.2d 917, 922 (Iowa 1998), that presumption is not absolute or irrebutable.
In considering whether counsel’s failure to raise an issue amounts to ineffective assistance, we have stated that counsel is not required to be a “crystal gazer” to predict changes in law. State v. Schoelerman, 315 N.W.2d 67, 72 (Iowa 1982). At the same time, however, we have also stated that the test of ineffective assistance of counsel “is whether a normally competent attorney could have concluded that the question ... was not worth raising.” Id. We used the latter standard in State v. Graves, 668 N.W.2d 860, 881-82 (Iowa 2003), to determine that counsel should have challenged prosecutorial use of “liar” and similar phraseology to brand a criminal defendant notwithstanding prior unfavorable precedent of this court. Although there was no direct authority on the precise issue to be overcome, as in this case, Graves stands for the proposition that a competent lawyer must stay abreast of legal developments.
It appears that there are three members of this six-member court who would decline to find that counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge the continued vitality of Morgan or to distinguish Morgan on the ground that it applies only where law enforcement first obtains a valid waiver of Miranda rights. As a result, these three members do not reach the issue of whether Morgan was rightly decided or can be distinguished from this case. In light of this unusual posture, I do not specifically determine whether counsel’s failure to seek to overturn or distinguish Morgan amounts to ineffective assistance. I regard it sufficient to simply state that I am generally committed to the values inherent in Miranda and regard Morgan as wobbly precedent that may not survive a direct attack in light of my review of Justice Souter’s dissent in Davis, the validity of alternate approaches by other state supreme courts that have considered the issue, the academic literature that is sharply critical of Davis, the evolving precedent of this court departing from United States Supreme Court jurisprudence, and my view of the proper constitutional balance between the needs of the State and the rights of the accused.
Until the issue of the continued vitality of Morgan is resolved, law enforcement might consider Justice O’Connor’s suggestion in Davis that even if clarification of ambiguous requests for counsel is not constitutionally required, follow-up questioning designed solely to resolve any ambiguity before questioning continues represents good policy. Davis, 512 U.S. at 461, 114 S.Ct. at 2356, 129 L.Ed.2d at 373.
Further, implementation of a policy of clarifying ambiguous requests will lessen the risk of a reversal should a majority of this court ultimately abandon the concluso-ry acceptance of Davis, overrule Morgan, develop its own independent approach that *898rejects the majority position in Davis, and require law enforcement officers to clarify ambiguous invocations of constitutional rights by accuseds in police custody.
WIGGINS and HECHT, JJ., join this opinion.