Court Opinion

ID: 9573753
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:58:34.492082+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:43:17.720295
License: Public Domain

UHLENHOPP, Justice
(dissenting).
I. Probable cause exists for issuance of a search warrant if facts supplied to the issuing officer are sufficient to cause a reasonably cautious person to believe a crime has been or is being committed. State v. Birkestrand, 239 N.W.2d 353, 356 (Iowa). In this case, Office Cook’s sworn information and testimony presented to the magistrate the following facts, based upon Cook’s own knowledge and what he was told by another officer, Deputy Sheriff Daryl Warner: (1) Scott Goodrich had arranged a meeting with Warner for the morning of November 1,1974, at which Goodrich would deliver marijuana to Warner; (2) Goodrich was to meet Warner near Atalissa, Iowa, and leave his girl friend with Warner while he went to pick up the marijuana; (3) about 9:00 a. m. Goodrich told Warner he had failed to make his contact for the marijuana but would try again at about 10:30 a. m., and would meet Warner again near Atalissa at about 11:15 a. m. (this established that Goodrich did not yet have the marijuana at 9:00 a. m.); (4) Goodrich met Warner again near Atalissa; (5) Goodrich drove to the farmhouse in question near Lone Tree, Iowa, and shortly returned to his rendezvous with Warner; (6) Goodrich delivered to Warner approximately 20 pounds of marijuana, and was arrested.
I believe from these facts one could reasonably infer that Goodrich very likely obtained the 20 pounds of marijuana at the farmhouse. The timing of Goodrich’s visit to the farmhouse, which the court calls “mere coincidence,” is highly probative. The large quantity involved indicated the existence of a big dealer, so that more marijuana might very well be on hand at the farmhouse. I think a reasonably cautious person could reasonably conclude from these facts that marijuana would be found in the farmhouse, and that probable cause therefore existed to issue the search warrant.
*580The court notes in its opinion that defendant himself was not observed before the warrant was issued, and that the officers did not know who occupied the house. This appears irrelevant. The warrant was not issued against any particular person, but against the “person or persons unknown” who occupied the farmhouse. The evidence pointed to the presence of marijuana in the farmhouse, regardless of who lived there.
The court also states, relying upon the Spinelli, Easter, and Boer cases, that “innocent-appearing activity cannot be used to bolster an otherwise inadequate warrant application”; and since Goodrich’s stopping at the farmhouse was consistent with innocent behavior, the stopping cannot by itself support a finding of probable cause to search the farmhouse.
I think the cited cases say, rather, than an informant’s conclusions regarding illegal activity cannot be given weight because “corroborated” by activity in itself innocent. “Insofar as relevant here, the Spinelli court held the standard of Aquilar [v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723] prohibiting issuance of a warrant upon mere presentation of conclusions regarding illegal activity cannot be met by adding corroborative detail regarding innocent-seeming activity to those conclusions.” State v. Boer, 224 N.W.2d 217, 220-221 (Iowa). In Boer, an informant made the unsupported assertion that a man named Jack Van Zee was expecting a suitcase with narcotics in it at the municipal airport. The State argued that the fact a man named Jack Van Zee was expecting a suitcase at the airport corroborated the informant’s story. The court said “The additional data provided . . . was innocent-appearing . . . [and] cannot be added to the recital of the informant’s conclusion regarding illegal activity to establish probable cause.” State v. Boer, supra, at 221. In Easter, an informant similarly said two subjects named S. Kerns and W. Kerns would fly into Des Moines with suitcases containing marijuana. This court said:
At the outset we note [the affiant] recited he corroborated the fact S. Kerns and W. Kerns had reservations on the flight specified by [the informant]. We do not rely on this corroboration, however; such activity is entirely innocent and cannot be used to bolster an otherwise inadequate warrant application. State v. Easter, 241 N.W.2d 885, 887 (Iowa).
The reasoning of Spinelli, Boer, and Easter does not apply in the instant case. The innocent activity here — Goodrich’s stopping at the farmhouse — is not used to corroborate an informant’s conclusion that there was marijuana in the farmhouse. No informant told Officer Cook there was marijuana in the farmhouse. The cited cases are inapposite.
Here the innocent-appearing activity-— Goodrich’s stopping at the farmhouse — was but one fact from which Officer Cook reasonably inferred the existence of marijuana in the house. I do not think that Spinelli, Boer, and Easter mean that only activity which is in itself illegal may be considered in determining whether probable cause exists. Even though Goodrich’s stopping at the farmhouse was in itself innocent, in the context of other facts known to Officer Cook it was highly probative of illegal activity. As such, it could "be properly considered in determining the existence of probable cause.
II. Because I would affirm on the probable cause issue, I must, unlike the court, reach defendant’s second contention. At the accommodation hearing the burden was placed upon defendant to prove the fact of accommodation. This was error under State v. Monroe, 236 N.W.2d 24 (Iowa). Error was properly preserved. I would reverse and remand for a new accommodation hearing in accordance with Monroe.
REYNOLDSON, HARRIS, and McCOR-MICK, JJ., join in the dissent.