{ "attribution": { "source": "legal.exploreworldai.com", "canonical": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/judgment-text?id=us:iowa-23-2114-2025-06-13", "cite_as": "NovaCopilot, legal.exploreworldai.com (https://legal.exploreworldai.com/api/public/v1/judgment-text?id=us:iowa-23-2114-2025-06-13)", "license": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/revision", "version": "legal-2026-10-10", "fingerprint": "ewai:us:e7268f", "proof": "sha256:0261d6a548f1e15de25d1214aa36249b03e67a469b4beaee570161fc09c1430d", "jurisdiction": "us", "lang": "en", "publisher": "NovaCopilot by ExploreWorld Legal", "terms": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/om" }, "brand_source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "item": { "schema_version": "1.0.0", "id": "us:iowa-23-2114-2025-06-13", "jurisdiction": "us", "lang": "en", "brand_source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "brand": { "product": "NovaCopilot", "platform": "ExploreWorldAI", "infrastructure": "ExploreWorld Legal", "infrastructure_url": "legal.exploreworldai.com", "legal_entity": "Valkiv Ventures AB", "permanent_url": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/novacopilot", "source": "Source: NovaCopilot", "powered_by": "Powered by NovaCopilot", "license": "https://legal.exploreworldai.com/licensvillkor" }, "sections": [ { "title": "In the Iowa Supreme Court", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "No. 23–2114", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Submitted April 16, 2025—Filed June 13, 2025", "paragraphs": [ "para_4", "para_5", "para_6", "para_7", "para_8", "para_9", "para_10" ] }, { "title": "The State appeals the district court’s ruling declaring Iowa Code", "paragraphs": [ "para_12", "para_13", "para_14" ] }, { "title": "Waterman, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which all justices", "paragraphs": [ "para_16" ] }, { "title": "Brenna Bird, Attorney General; Eric Wessan (argued), Solicitor General;", "paragraphs": [ "para_18", "para_19", "para_20", "para_21", "para_22" ] }, { "title": "W. Charles Smithson, West Des Moines, for amicus curiae Twenty-Eight", "paragraphs": [ "para_24" ] }, { "title": "2", "paragraphs": [ "para_26" ] }, { "title": "Do police officers need a warrant to search garbage bags placed curbside", "paragraphs": [ "para_28" ] }, { "title": "415–19 (Iowa 2021), based on the search and seizure clause in article I, section 8", "paragraphs": [ "para_30", "para_31", "para_32", "para_33", "para_34" ] }, { "title": "In 2023, a concerned citizen tipped off police to suspected narcotics", "paragraphs": [ "para_36", "para_37", "para_38", "para_39", "para_40", "para_41", "para_42", "para_43", "para_44", "para_45", "para_46" ] }, { "title": "On our review, we conclude that the district court erred in granting the", "paragraphs": [ "para_48", "para_49", "para_50", "para_51" ] }, { "title": "3", "paragraphs": [ "para_53", "para_54", "para_55", "para_56", "para_57", "para_58", "para_59", "para_60" ] }, { "title": "In October 2022, Urbandale Police Narcotics Detective Brad Frick began", "paragraphs": [ "para_62" ] }, { "title": "June 2023, he received a tip from a concerned citizen about “possible drug", "paragraphs": [ "para_64", "para_65", "para_66", "para_67", "para_68", "para_69", "para_70" ] }, { "title": "July 3, Frick went to the 38th Street address at 5:15 a.m. and retrieved a white", "paragraphs": [ "para_72", "para_73", "para_74", "para_75", "para_76", "para_77", "para_78" ] }, { "title": "4", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "On July 10, Frick returned to the location at 5:00 a.m. He pulled out two", "paragraphs": [ "para_81", "para_82", "para_83" ] }, { "title": "On July 17, Frick returned at 5:05 a.m. He retrieved two black garbage", "paragraphs": [ "para_85", "para_86", "para_87", "para_88" ] }, { "title": "One of the THC vape cartridge packages says that it is from", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "California. I know, based on training and experience that marijuana", "paragraphs": [ "para_91", "para_92", "para_93", "para_94", "para_95" ] }, { "title": "Frick took this evidence to the MINE office. Frick conducted all three trash pulls", "paragraphs": [ "para_97" ] }, { "title": "Relying on the evidence obtained from these trash pulls, Frick applied for", "paragraphs": [ "para_99", "para_100" ] }, { "title": "Charles and Mandracchia were charged with possession of a controlled", "paragraphs": [ "para_102" ] }, { "title": "Charles was also charged with possession of a controlled substance in violation", "paragraphs": [ "para_104", "para_105" ] }, { "title": "The defendants filed motions to suppress the evidence found in the", "paragraphs": [ "para_107", "para_108" ] }, { "title": "5", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Neither the State nor the defendants called any witnesses. The State conceded", "paragraphs": [ "para_111", "para_112", "para_113", "para_114", "para_115", "para_116", "para_117", "para_118" ] }, { "title": "Wright . . . that an officer’s warrantless seizure of trash bags and subsequent", "paragraphs": [ "para_120", "para_121" ] }, { "title": "Constitution.” The State argued that Iowa Code section 808.16 authorized", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Frick’s trash pulls consistent with Wright. The defendants responded by arguing", "paragraphs": [ "para_124" ] }, { "title": "The district court ruled that Iowa Code section 808.16 is facially", "paragraphs": [ "para_126", "para_127", "para_128" ] }, { "title": "Code section 808.16:", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "It is clear from a plain reading of the statute that the", "paragraphs": [ "para_131", "para_132" ] }, { "title": "It addressed what is or is not a citizen’s reasonable expectation of", "paragraphs": [ "para_134", "para_135", "para_136" ] }, { "title": "Constitution, a source whose meaning is left to the courts as the", "paragraphs": [ "para_138", "para_139", "para_140" ] }, { "title": "6", "paragraphs": [ "para_142", "para_143", "para_144", "para_145", "para_146" ] }, { "title": "On appeal, the State argues that Iowa Code section 808.16 is", "paragraphs": [ "para_148", "para_149" ] }, { "title": "Iowa Constitution, and the district court erred by interpreting Wright as instead", "paragraphs": [ "para_151" ] }, { "title": "Code section 808.16 amends the currently existing positive law that undergirds", "paragraphs": [ "para_153", "para_154", "para_155" ] }, { "title": "Mandracchia argues that “[e]ach portion of section 808.16 purports to make", "paragraphs": [ "para_157" ] }, { "title": "Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Iowa Constitution.” Similarly, Charles", "paragraphs": [ "para_159", "para_160", "para_161", "para_162", "para_163", "para_164", "para_165" ] }, { "title": "We review de novo a district court’s ruling on a motion to suppress based", "paragraphs": [ "para_167" ] }, { "title": "64 (Iowa 2024). “We independently evaluate the entire record and consider the", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "7", "paragraphs": [ "para_170" ] }, { "title": "(Iowa 2024)). “We defer to the findings of fact made by the district court, ‘but we", "paragraphs": [ "para_172", "para_173" ] }, { "title": "The State argues that the garbage Detective Frick searched without a", "paragraphs": [ "para_175", "para_176", "para_177", "para_178", "para_179" ] }, { "title": "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers", "paragraphs": [ "para_181", "para_182", "para_183", "para_184" ] }, { "title": "(Emphasis added.)", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "In holding that a police officer’s warrantless trash pull was", "paragraphs": [ "para_187", "para_188" ] }, { "title": "We emphasized that point in State v. Bauler:", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "We begin by summarizing Wright. It is important to note that", "paragraphs": [ "para_191", "para_192" ] }, { "title": "See [961 N.W.2d] at 420 (Appel, J., specially concurring). In the", "paragraphs": [ "para_194", "para_195", "para_196", "para_197", "para_198" ] }, { "title": "(quoting Clear Lake, Iowa, Code of Ordinances § 105.11(4) (2003));", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(2) that the officer committed a trespass because he violated this", "paragraphs": [ "para_201" ] }, { "title": "8", "paragraphs": [ "para_203", "para_204", "para_205", "para_206", "para_207", "para_208", "para_209" ] }, { "title": "129 Harv. L. Rev. 1821 (2016) [hereinafter Baude & Stern]. See", "paragraphs": [ "para_211", "para_212" ] }, { "title": "Wright thereby signaled that changes in state or local property law", "paragraphs": [ "para_214", "para_215", "para_216", "para_217", "para_218", "para_219", "para_220", "para_221" ] }, { "title": "N.W.2d 486, 499 (Iowa 2022). “[T]he Iowa Supreme Court ‘is the final arbiter’ of", "paragraphs": [ "para_223" ] }, { "title": "2023) (quoting West v. Am. Tel. & Tel. Co., 311 U.S. 223, 236 (1940)). We must", "paragraphs": [ "para_225", "para_226" ] }, { "title": "We begin with the text of the challenged statute. Iowa Code section 808.16", "paragraphs": [ "para_228" ] }, { "title": "1. It is the public policy of this state that a person has no", "paragraphs": [ "para_230", "para_231" ] }, { "title": "9", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "2. A city or county shall only adopt an ordinance or a", "paragraphs": [ "para_234", "para_235", "para_236", "para_237", "para_238", "para_239" ] }, { "title": "3. Garbage placed outside of a person’s residence for waste", "paragraphs": [ "para_241", "para_242", "para_243" ] }, { "title": "4. A peace officer may conduct a search and may seize garbage", "paragraphs": [ "para_245", "para_246", "para_247" ] }, { "title": "This statute was enacted in the next legislative session after Wright. See", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "2022 Iowa Acts ch. 1022 (codified at Iowa Code § 808.16). The obvious purpose", "paragraphs": [ "para_250", "para_251", "para_252", "para_253", "para_254", "para_255", "para_256", "para_257", "para_258" ] }, { "title": "1Until Wright, Iowa law enforcement routinely conducted warrantless trash pulls based", "paragraphs": [ "para_260", "para_261" ] }, { "title": "Constitution. See California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35, 40–41(1988) (Fourth Amendment);", "paragraphs": [ "para_263", "para_264" ] }, { "title": "10", "paragraphs": [ "para_266", "para_267", "para_268", "para_269" ] }, { "title": "Kasischke, 14 N.W.3d 119, 126 (Iowa 2024) (alteration in original) (quoting In re", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Guardianship of L.Y., 968 N.W.2d 882, 892 (Iowa 2022)); see also Iowa Code", "paragraphs": [ "para_272" ] }, { "title": "Constitutions of the state and of the United States is intended.”). The defendants", "paragraphs": [ "para_274", "para_275", "para_276", "para_277" ] }, { "title": "League of United Latin Am. Citizens of Iowa v. Pate, 950 N.W.2d 204, 209 (Iowa", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "2020) (per curiam)). “If there is any set of facts where the statute could be held", "paragraphs": [ "para_280", "para_281", "para_282" ] }, { "title": "We conclude that Charles and Mandracchia failed to meet their heavy", "paragraphs": [ "para_284", "para_285", "para_286", "para_287", "para_288", "para_289" ] }, { "title": "That provision is found in subsection (3) of section 808.16, which states", "paragraphs": [ "para_291" ] }, { "title": "11", "paragraphs": [ "para_293", "para_294", "para_295" ] }, { "title": "See generally Gravert v. Nebergall, 539 N.W.2d 184, 186 (Iowa 1995) (“Police", "paragraphs": [ "para_297", "para_298" ] }, { "title": "LLP, 977 N.W.2d 67, 85 (Iowa 2022) (applying deferential review to legislative", "paragraphs": [ "para_300", "para_301", "para_302", "para_303", "para_304" ] }, { "title": "As noted, Wright repeatedly relied on positive law—specifically the local", "paragraphs": [ "para_306", "para_307" ] }, { "title": "961 N.W.2d at 415–16 (“Until such time as the garbage bags were collected by a", "paragraphs": [ "para_309", "para_310", "para_311" ] }, { "title": "2See, e.g., Iowa Code § 163.3D (abandoned animals); id. § 321.89 (abandoned vehicles);", "paragraphs": [ "para_313", "para_314", "para_315" ] }, { "title": "3We adhere to the constitutional avoidance doctrine and refrain from addressing the", "paragraphs": [ "para_317", "para_318", "para_319", "para_320", "para_321", "para_322" ] }, { "title": "12", "paragraphs": [ "para_324", "para_325", "para_326", "para_327", "para_328", "para_329", "para_330" ] }, { "title": "Wright also expressly relied on the antiscavenging ordinance as the source", "paragraphs": [ "para_332", "para_333" ] }, { "title": "Here, Wright had an expectation based on positive law that", "paragraphs": [ "para_335", "para_336", "para_337", "para_338" ] }, { "title": "Code of Ordinances § 106.11. Wright had an expectation based on", "paragraphs": [ "para_340" ] }, { "title": "See id. § 105.11(4); see also Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 143", "paragraphs": [ "para_342", "para_343", "para_344", "para_345" ] }, { "title": "Id. at 419. Conversely, the subsequent enactment of Iowa Code section 808.16(3)", "paragraphs": [ "para_347", "para_348" ] }, { "title": "As the foregoing discussions in Wright demonstrate, positive law, such as", "paragraphs": [ "para_350", "para_351", "para_352", "para_353" ] }, { "title": "13", "paragraphs": [ "para_355", "para_356", "para_357", "para_358", "para_359", "para_360" ] }, { "title": "755 N.W.2d at 538–39. Section 808.16(3) establishes that such garbage", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(including any papers or effects tossed out with it) has been abandoned as a", "paragraphs": [ "para_363", "para_364" ] }, { "title": "Burns, 988 N.W.2d at 367–68; State v. Bumpus, 459 N.W.2d 619, 625 (Iowa", "paragraphs": [ "para_366" ] }, { "title": "We hold that the abandonment provision in Iowa Code section 808.16(3)", "paragraphs": [ "para_368", "para_369", "para_370", "para_371" ] }, { "title": "4In State v. Lowman, the Iowa District Court for Marion County took the same approach", "paragraphs": [ "para_373" ] }, { "title": "(Aug. 29, 2024). In that case, the district court denied a motion to suppress evidence of", "paragraphs": [ "para_375", "para_376", "para_377", "para_378", "para_379", "para_380", "para_381", "para_382", "para_383", "para_384", "para_385", "para_386", "para_387", "para_388" ] }, { "title": "14", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "State v. Burns is instructive. There, we determined that the defendant had", "paragraphs": [ "para_391", "para_392", "para_393", "para_394", "para_395" ] }, { "title": "In Wright, we explained that section 8 “precludes a peace officer from", "paragraphs": [ "para_397", "para_398", "para_399" ] }, { "title": "Burns’s person, his house, his papers, or his effects. So, Wright does", "paragraphs": [ "para_401" ] }, { "title": "Id. (citation omitted) (quoting Wright, 961 N.W.2d at 417).5", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Similarly, because under Iowa Code section 808.16(3), defendants Charles", "paragraphs": [ "para_404", "para_405", "para_406", "para_407", "para_408" ] }, { "title": "Based on the foregoing, this court concludes that the trash placed out for", "paragraphs": [ "para_410", "para_411", "para_412", "para_413" ] }, { "title": "5We also noted that Iowa Code section 729.6(3)(c)(2) allows law enforcement to collect and", "paragraphs": [ "para_415", "para_416", "para_417", "para_418", "para_419", "para_420" ] }, { "title": "6State v. Kuuttila, 965 N.W.2d 484, 486–87 (Iowa 2021), and State v. Hahn, 961 N.W.2d", "paragraphs": [ "para_422", "para_423", "para_424" ] }, { "title": "15", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "We determine that under the newly enacted and controlling statute, Iowa", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Code section 808.16(3), defendants Charles and Mandracchia abandoned the", "paragraphs": [ "para_428", "para_429", "para_430", "para_431", "para_432" ] }, { "title": "Wright, 961 N.W.2d at 415 (observing that a police officer’s search of garbage", "paragraphs": [ "para_434", "para_435" ] }, { "title": "The State urges our court to decide this appeal by harmonizing Iowa Code", "paragraphs": [ "para_437", "para_438", "para_439", "para_440", "para_441", "para_442", "para_443" ] }, { "title": "For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the district court’s suppression", "paragraphs": [ "para_445", "para_446", "para_447" ] }, { "title": "16", "paragraphs": [ "para_449", "para_450" ] }, { "title": "With the passing of a statute declaring that trash left out for collection is", "paragraphs": [ "para_452", "para_453", "para_454", "para_455", "para_456", "para_457", "para_458", "para_459", "para_460", "para_461", "para_462" ] }, { "title": "The district court, relying on Wright, held that the officer’s warrantless", "paragraphs": [ "para_464" ] }, { "title": "Iowa Constitution. That provision states: “The right of the people to be secure in", "paragraphs": [ "para_466", "para_467", "para_468", "para_469", "para_470", "para_471" ] }, { "title": "Cuddihy, The Fourth Amendment: Origins and Original Meaning 602–1791, at", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "603–13 (2009). General warrants allowed government officers to search a person", "paragraphs": [ "para_474" ] }, { "title": "17", "paragraphs": [ "para_476" ] }, { "title": "(Iowa 1855). The officer did not possess a warrant to search the defendants’ trash", "paragraphs": [ "para_478" ] }, { "title": "In Wright, we examined whether a police officer’s warrantless search of a", "paragraphs": [ "para_480" ] }, { "title": "416–17 (Iowa 2021). In answering this question, we employed two modes of", "paragraphs": [ "para_482", "para_483", "para_484", "para_485", "para_486", "para_487", "para_488", "para_489", "para_490", "para_491", "para_492", "para_493" ] }, { "title": "The majority in this case holds that a different law—a statute enacted after", "paragraphs": [ "para_495", "para_496", "para_497" ] }, { "title": "Constitution, while also overlooking Wright’s separate holding under the", "paragraphs": [ "para_499" ] }, { "title": "A. The Judicial Power to Construe the Constitution. With Iowa Code", "paragraphs": [ "para_501" ] }, { "title": "18", "paragraphs": [ "para_503", "para_504" ] }, { "title": "First, in subsection (1), the statute asserts as a matter of “public policy of", "paragraphs": [ "para_506", "para_507", "para_508", "para_509", "para_510", "para_511" ] }, { "title": "352, 360 (Iowa 2023) (“[T]he Iowa Supreme Court is the ‘final arbiter’ of what the", "paragraphs": [ "para_513" ] }, { "title": "236 (1940))); Richardson v. Fitzgerald, 109 N.W. 866, 867 (Iowa 1906) (“As every", "paragraphs": [ "para_515", "para_516" ] }, { "title": "Legislature that the judicial function shall be performed in a particular way is a", "paragraphs": [ "para_518", "para_519", "para_520" ] }, { "title": "Subsection (2) begins with a statement that a city or county may only", "paragraphs": [ "para_522", "para_523", "para_524" ] }, { "title": "Iowa Code § 808.16(2). The first part of subsection (2) limiting city or county", "paragraphs": [ "para_526", "para_527" ] }, { "title": "The second part of subsection (2) simply asserts, again, that trash ordinances or", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "19", "paragraphs": [ "para_530", "para_531", "para_532" ] }, { "title": "Skipping subsection (3) for the moment, subsection (4) declares that an", "paragraphs": [ "para_534", "para_535", "para_536", "para_537", "para_538", "para_539", "para_540" ] }, { "title": "Subsection (3) states that trash placed out for collection “shall be deemed", "paragraphs": [ "para_542", "para_543", "para_544", "para_545", "para_546", "para_547" ] }, { "title": "8 does not apply to this case at all, in other words, because the trash in John", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Mandracchia and Charles Amble’s bin is abandoned property because the", "paragraphs": [ "para_550", "para_551" ] }, { "title": "But it is for the court, not the legislature, to determine whether conduct is", "paragraphs": [ "para_553", "para_554", "para_555" ] }, { "title": "20", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Constitution means.” Green v. City of Cascade, 231 N.W.2d 882, 890", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(Iowa 1975). The text of article I, section 8 divides the analysis into four", "paragraphs": [ "para_559", "para_560", "para_561" ] }, { "title": "See Orin S. Kerr, Katz as Originalism, 71 Duke L.J. 1047, 1052 (2022). Whether", "paragraphs": [ "para_563", "para_564", "para_565", "para_566", "para_567" ] }, { "title": "Consider Junkins v. Branstad, where a group of legislators challenged the", "paragraphs": [ "para_569" ] }, { "title": "(Iowa 1988) (en banc). The text of the constitution limits the Governor’s use of", "paragraphs": [ "para_571" ] }, { "title": "III, § 16). The legislators argued that the Governor exercised the veto on", "paragraphs": [ "para_573", "para_574", "para_575", "para_576", "para_577", "para_578", "para_579", "para_580" ] }, { "title": "The legislature could not, for instance, end-run the Fifth Amendment to", "paragraphs": [ "para_582" ] }, { "title": "21", "paragraphs": [ "para_584", "para_585", "para_586", "para_587", "para_588", "para_589", "para_590" ] }, { "title": "Just as the determination about what constitutes “property” or “arms”", "paragraphs": [ "para_592", "para_593", "para_594", "para_595", "para_596", "para_597" ] }, { "title": "If the legislature can alter constitutional protections simply by passing a", "paragraphs": [ "para_599", "para_600", "para_601", "para_602", "para_603", "para_604", "para_605", "para_606", "para_607", "para_608" ] }, { "title": "W. Va. State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 638 (1943) (Jackson, J.). The", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "22", "paragraphs": [ "para_611", "para_612" ] }, { "title": "B. Getting Wright Wrong. Wright rested on two separate rationales: a", "paragraphs": [ "para_614" ] }, { "title": "N.W.2d at 417–19; see also State v. Kuuttila, 965 N.W.2d 484, 486–87", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(Iowa 2021) (explaining “[b]oth rationales” on which Wright’s holding relied). The", "paragraphs": [ "para_617" ] }, { "title": "Wright, we explained that people have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the", "paragraphs": [ "para_619" ] }, { "title": "When a citizen places garbage out for collection in a closed garbage", "paragraphs": [ "para_621", "para_622", "para_623", "para_624", "para_625", "para_626", "para_627", "para_628", "para_629", "para_630" ] }, { "title": "961 N.W.2d at 418–19 (quoting Jeffrey M. Skopek, Untangling Privacy: Losses", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Versus Violations, 105 Iowa L. Rev. 2169, 2174 (2020)). Quoting the LaFave", "paragraphs": [ "para_633", "para_634", "para_635", "para_636", "para_637", "para_638" ] }, { "title": "We have relied on this rationale two other times. See State v. Hahn, 961", "paragraphs": [ "para_640" ] }, { "title": "23", "paragraphs": [ "para_642", "para_643", "para_644", "para_645", "para_646" ] }, { "title": "Wright, where the city had an ordinance preventing a person from intermeddling", "paragraphs": [ "para_648", "para_649", "para_650", "para_651" ] }, { "title": "965 N.W.2d at 486–87. The majority relegates Hahn and Kuuttila to a footnote", "paragraphs": [ "para_653", "para_654", "para_655" ] }, { "title": "The positive law is one, but certainly not the only, approach that we", "paragraphs": [ "para_657", "para_658" ] }, { "title": "Stan. L. Rev. 503, 506, 519 (2007). We said as much in Wright: “Of course, this", "paragraphs": [ "para_660", "para_661", "para_662" ] }, { "title": "The reasonable-expectation-of-privacy test that we apply under article I, section", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "8 remains the overarching test for determining whether a search-and-seizure", "paragraphs": [ "para_665", "para_666" ] }, { "title": "24", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "To begin, as we recognized in Wright, our trash “contains intimate and", "paragraphs": [ "para_669", "para_670", "para_671" ] }, { "title": "Greeting cards, bank statements, church bulletins, voter registration cards, loan", "paragraphs": [ "para_673", "para_674", "para_675", "para_676", "para_677", "para_678", "para_679", "para_680", "para_681", "para_682" ] }, { "title": "Whether a person has a privacy interest in their trash often raises", "paragraphs": [ "para_684" ] }, { "title": "(Christensen, C.J., dissenting). If people abandon property, it is no longer “theirs”", "paragraphs": [ "para_686" ] }, { "title": "(Iowa 1990). In deciding whether someone has abandoned property, we consider", "paragraphs": [ "para_688", "para_689", "para_690", "para_691" ] }, { "title": "(en banc). Because people have little choice but to put their trash out for", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "25", "paragraphs": [ "para_694", "para_695" ] }, { "title": "Unlike today, people at the time of Iowa’s founding disposed of their trash", "paragraphs": [ "para_697", "para_698" ] }, { "title": "Municipal trash collection efforts started around the mid-1800s, when it became", "paragraphs": [ "para_700" ] }, { "title": "Melosi, The Sanitary City: Environmental Services in Urban America from Colonial", "paragraphs": [ "para_702" ] }, { "title": "But despite America’s rapid urbanization during this period, “attempts by", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "American cities to deal with growing amounts of garbage could be described as", "paragraphs": [ "para_705", "para_706" ] }, { "title": "As urban areas began to grow in population, the American economy was", "paragraphs": [ "para_708" ] }, { "title": "Sanitary City at 114. The items Americans were consuming were also beginning", "paragraphs": [ "para_710" ] }, { "title": "Abandon, 109 Mich. L. Rev. 191, 214–15 (2010) [hereinafter Peñalver]. With more", "paragraphs": [ "para_712", "para_713" ] }, { "title": "Sanitary City, at 113. Cities at first struggled with how to go about collecting", "paragraphs": [ "para_715" ] }, { "title": "Rural areas were slower adopters of municipal trash collection and instead", "paragraphs": [ "para_717", "para_718" ] }, { "title": "Disposal of Municipal Refuse 618 (1921). People in these areas usually handled", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "26", "paragraphs": [ "para_721", "para_722", "para_723" ] }, { "title": "Iowa’s experience with trash collection seems to have been typical of the", "paragraphs": [ "para_725", "para_726" ] }, { "title": "States Census incorporated this research into reports that it prepared on over", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "100 cities across the country. Id. at 119. The census collected sanitation practice", "paragraphs": [ "para_729" ] }, { "title": "Des Moines, and Keokuk. George E. Waring, Jr., Dep’t of Interior, Report on the", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "Social Statistics of Cities, Part II: The Southern and the Western States 707–37", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(photo. reprt. 1991) (1887). At the time, Davenport and Des Moines—the two", "paragraphs": [ "para_733", "para_734" ] }, { "title": "Rapids, Council Bluffs, and Keokuk) permitted residents to do with their garbage", "paragraphs": [ "para_736", "para_737", "para_738" ] }, { "title": "Sanitation practices obviously look very different today. The Iowa", "paragraphs": [ "para_740", "para_741", "para_742", "para_743", "para_744", "para_745", "para_746" ] }, { "title": "27", "paragraphs": [ "para_748", "para_749" ] }, { "title": "The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission now regulates disposal", "paragraphs": [ "para_751", "para_752" ] }, { "title": "Although there are a number of exemptions to the open-burning prohibition, see", "paragraphs": [ "para_754", "para_755", "para_756", "para_757", "para_758" ] }, { "title": "Municipal Code § 15.32.030(B) (2024) (“No person shall ignite . . . an open fire", "paragraphs": [ "para_760" ] }, { "title": "In Des Moines, where the defendants in this case resided, the city provides", "paragraphs": [ "para_762" ] }, { "title": "(2025). Unless the owner of a house or building can demonstrate that it’s", "paragraphs": [ "para_764", "para_765", "para_766", "para_767", "para_768", "para_769", "para_770" ] }, { "title": "Landfill Rules & Policies, https://www.mwatoday.com/locations/metro-park-east-", "paragraphs": [ "para_772" ] }, { "title": "28", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "In short, as Des Moines residents, Mandracchia and Amble could not", "paragraphs": [] }, { "title": "(1) burn their trash, (2) hoard their trash, (3) dispose of their trash somewhere", "paragraphs": [ "para_776" ] }, { "title": "(5) throw it in someone else’s trash bin. Short of burying it on their property (not", "paragraphs": [ "para_778", "para_779", "para_780" ] }, { "title": "Although not an abandonment case, Carpenter v. United States illustrates", "paragraphs": [ "para_782", "para_783", "para_784", "para_785" ] }, { "title": "Stored Communications Act, which allows the government to compel a cellphone", "paragraphs": [ "para_787", "para_788", "para_789", "para_790", "para_791", "para_792" ] }, { "title": "The United States Supreme Court held that the location information", "paragraphs": [ "para_794" ] }, { "title": "Amendment. Id. at 315–16. The holding rested, in part, on the fact that although", "paragraphs": [ "para_796", "para_797", "para_798", "para_799" ] }, { "title": "29", "paragraphs": [ "para_801", "para_802" ] }, { "title": "(2014)). The Court concluded that “in no meaningful sense does the user", "paragraphs": [ "para_804", "para_805", "para_806" ] }, { "title": "In the same way, Mandracchia and Amble’s choice to set out their trash", "paragraphs": [ "para_808", "para_809", "para_810", "para_811", "para_812" ] }, { "title": "930 (1st Cir. 1992) (holding that IRS agents reconstructing shredded documents", "paragraphs": [ "para_814", "para_815", "para_816" ] }, { "title": "When residents set out their trash, the situation is more akin to a", "paragraphs": [ "para_818", "para_819", "para_820" ] }, { "title": "Abandonment generally involves not just voluntary relinquishment but a gap in", "paragraphs": [ "para_822", "para_823", "para_824", "para_825", "para_826" ] }, { "title": "30", "paragraphs": [ "para_828" ] }, { "title": "(Pa. 2019) (describing how a person’s privacy interest in their computer was not", "paragraphs": [ "para_830", "para_831", "para_832", "para_833", "para_834" ] }, { "title": "Because I reject the notion that the new statute requires a finding of", "paragraphs": [ "para_836", "para_837", "para_838", "para_839", "para_840" ] } ], "paragraphs": [ { "text": "In the Iowa Supreme Court", "paragraph_id": "para_1" }, { "text": "No. 23–2114", "paragraph_id": "para_2" }, { "text": "Submitted April 16, 2025—Filed June 13, 2025", "paragraph_id": "para_3" }, { "text": "State of Iowa,", "paragraph_id": "para_4" }, { "text": "Appellant,", "paragraph_id": "para_5" }, { "text": "vs.", "paragraph_id": "para_6" }, { "text": "Charles Aaron Amble and John Joseph Mandracchia,", "paragraph_id": "para_7" }, { "text": "Appellees.", "paragraph_id": "para_8" }, { "text": "Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Michael D. Huppert,", "paragraph_id": "para_9" }, { "text": "judge.", "paragraph_id": "para_10" }, { "text": "The State appeals the district court’s ruling declaring Iowa Code", "paragraph_id": "para_11" }, { "text": "section 808.16 facially unconstitutional and granting the defendants’ motions to", "paragraph_id": "para_12" }, { "text": "suppress evidence obtained through warrantless searches of garbage. Reversed", "paragraph_id": "para_13" }, { "text": "and Remanded.", "paragraph_id": "para_14" }, { "text": "Waterman, J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which all justices", "paragraph_id": "para_15" }, { "text": "joined except McDermott, J., who filed a dissenting opinion.", "paragraph_id": "para_16" }, { "text": "Brenna Bird, Attorney General; Eric Wessan (argued), Solicitor General;", "paragraph_id": "para_17" }, { "text": "and Aaron Rogers, Assistant Attorney General, for appellant.", "paragraph_id": "para_18" }, { "text": "Christopher A. Kragnes, Sr. (argued) of Kragnes & Associates, PC,", "paragraph_id": "para_19" }, { "text": "Des Moines, for appellee Charles Aaron Amble.", "paragraph_id": "para_20" }, { "text": "Martha J. Lucey, State Appellate Defender, and Joshua Irwin (argued),", "paragraph_id": "para_21" }, { "text": "Assistant Appellate Defender, for appellee John Joseph Mandracchia.", "paragraph_id": "para_22" }, { "text": "W. Charles Smithson, West Des Moines, for amicus curiae Twenty-Eight", "paragraph_id": "para_23" }, { "text": "Iowa State Senators.", "paragraph_id": "para_24" }, { "text": "2", "paragraph_id": "para_25" }, { "text": "Waterman, Justice.", "paragraph_id": "para_26" }, { "text": "Do police officers need a warrant to search garbage bags placed curbside", "paragraph_id": "para_27" }, { "text": "for collection? A divided court said yes in State v. Wright, 961 N.W.2d 396, 400,", "paragraph_id": "para_28" }, { "text": "415–19 (Iowa 2021), based on the search and seizure clause in article I, section 8", "paragraph_id": "para_29" }, { "text": "of the Iowa Constitution and a local antiscavenging ordinance that allowed only", "paragraph_id": "para_30" }, { "text": "licensed solid waste collectors to pick up the garbage. The legislature responded", "paragraph_id": "para_31" }, { "text": "by enacting Iowa Code section 808.16 (2023), which provides that such garbage", "paragraph_id": "para_32" }, { "text": "is abandoned property and preempts conflicting local ordinances. We revisit the", "paragraph_id": "para_33" }, { "text": "constitutionality of warrantless “trash pulls” in light of this new enactment.", "paragraph_id": "para_34" }, { "text": "In 2023, a concerned citizen tipped off police to suspected narcotics", "paragraph_id": "para_35" }, { "text": "trafficking at a Des Moines house. Acting pursuant to section 808.16, police", "paragraph_id": "para_36" }, { "text": "conducted warrantless searches of garbage bags that occupants had placed on", "paragraph_id": "para_37" }, { "text": "the curb for collection. The trash pulls revealed evidence of drug dealing that the", "paragraph_id": "para_38" }, { "text": "police used to obtain a warrant to search the home, where additional evidence", "paragraph_id": "para_39" }, { "text": "was found. Two occupants were charged criminally and moved to suppress the", "paragraph_id": "para_40" }, { "text": "evidence, contending that section 808.16 is unconstitutional. The district court", "paragraph_id": "para_41" }, { "text": "granted their suppression motions, ruling that the entire statute is facially", "paragraph_id": "para_42" }, { "text": "unconstitutional under article I, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution as interpreted", "paragraph_id": "para_43" }, { "text": "in Wright. We granted the State’s motion for discretionary review. The State", "paragraph_id": "para_44" }, { "text": "argues that section 808.16 is constitutional facially and as applied under Wright.", "paragraph_id": "para_45" }, { "text": "Alternatively, the State asks us to overrule Wright.", "paragraph_id": "para_46" }, { "text": "On our review, we conclude that the district court erred in granting the", "paragraph_id": "para_47" }, { "text": "suppression motions. Article I, section 8 protects a person’s “papers and effects”", "paragraph_id": "para_48" }, { "text": "against unreasonable searches by the government. Id. But that constitutional", "paragraph_id": "para_49" }, { "text": "protection does not apply to abandoned property. Wright relied on the municipal", "paragraph_id": "para_50" }, { "text": "antiscavenging ordinance to hold that the defendant’s garbage placed out for", "paragraph_id": "para_51" }, { "text": "3", "paragraph_id": "para_52" }, { "text": "collection was “not yet abandoned.” 961 N.W.2d at 415–16. Such ordinances", "paragraph_id": "para_53" }, { "text": "effectively have now been preempted by Iowa Code section 808.16(3), which", "paragraph_id": "para_54" }, { "text": "provides, “Garbage placed outside of a person’s residence for waste collection in", "paragraph_id": "para_55" }, { "text": "a publicly accessible area shall be deemed abandoned property . . . .” We hold", "paragraph_id": "para_56" }, { "text": "that this specific provision in section 808.16(3) is constitutional facially and as", "paragraph_id": "para_57" }, { "text": "applied in this case and lawfully authorized the trash pulls at issue. We therefore", "paragraph_id": "para_58" }, { "text": "reverse the district court’s ruling and remand the case for further proceedings.", "paragraph_id": "para_59" }, { "text": "I. Factual Background and Proceedings.", "paragraph_id": "para_60" }, { "text": "In October 2022, Urbandale Police Narcotics Detective Brad Frick began", "paragraph_id": "para_61" }, { "text": "his assignment with the Mid-Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force (MINE). In", "paragraph_id": "para_62" }, { "text": "June 2023, he received a tip from a concerned citizen about “possible drug", "paragraph_id": "para_63" }, { "text": "activity” at a specific house in the 2000 block of 38th Street in Des Moines. Frick", "paragraph_id": "para_64" }, { "text": "investigated and determined that the house had three occupants: Teresa Amble,", "paragraph_id": "para_65" }, { "text": "her husband Charles Amble, and John Mandracchia. Teresa owned the home,", "paragraph_id": "para_66" }, { "text": "and the utilities were in Charles’s name. Mandracchia and Teresa had no", "paragraph_id": "para_67" }, { "text": "criminal records, while Charles had two criminal convictions in 2011 for failing", "paragraph_id": "para_68" }, { "text": "to register as a sex offender.", "paragraph_id": "para_69" }, { "text": "Garbage was picked up streetside on Monday mornings. On Monday,", "paragraph_id": "para_70" }, { "text": "July 3, Frick went to the 38th Street address at 5:15 a.m. and retrieved a white", "paragraph_id": "para_71" }, { "text": "garbage bag from a trash bin set out by the curb. Frick searched the contents of", "paragraph_id": "para_72" }, { "text": "the garbage bag and found paperwork from Walgreens for Charles, as well as", "paragraph_id": "para_73" }, { "text": "small baggies and a pound-size package with THC labels that field-tested positive", "paragraph_id": "para_74" }, { "text": "for marijuana. He concluded that the pound-sized package, together with smaller", "paragraph_id": "para_75" }, { "text": "baggies, indicated that the occupants were breaking up larger quantities of", "paragraph_id": "para_76" }, { "text": "marijuana into smaller packages to distribute. Frick transported this evidence", "paragraph_id": "para_77" }, { "text": "to the MINE office.", "paragraph_id": "para_78" }, { "text": "4", "paragraph_id": "para_79" }, { "text": "On July 10, Frick returned to the location at 5:00 a.m. He pulled out two", "paragraph_id": "para_80" }, { "text": "white garbage bags that contained an Amazon package addressed to Teresa and", "paragraph_id": "para_81" }, { "text": "three baggies that field-tested positive for marijuana. He delivered this evidence", "paragraph_id": "para_82" }, { "text": "to the MINE office.", "paragraph_id": "para_83" }, { "text": "On July 17, Frick returned at 5:05 a.m. He retrieved two black garbage", "paragraph_id": "para_84" }, { "text": "bags that contained paperwork belonging to Mandracchia, a THC vape cartridge,", "paragraph_id": "para_85" }, { "text": "and two packages designed for THC products. The THC vape cartridge field-", "paragraph_id": "para_86" }, { "text": "tested positive for marijuana. As Frick later explained, the THC vape cartridge", "paragraph_id": "para_87" }, { "text": "was evidence of drug dealing:", "paragraph_id": "para_88" }, { "text": "One of the THC vape cartridge packages says that it is from", "paragraph_id": "para_89" }, { "text": "California. I know, based on training and experience that marijuana", "paragraph_id": "para_90" }, { "text": "distributors will buy marijuana products from states where", "paragraph_id": "para_91" }, { "text": "marijuana is legal and resell them in states where marijuana is", "paragraph_id": "para_92" }, { "text": "illegal. The THC packaging from California, located in the trash", "paragraph_id": "para_93" }, { "text": "receptacle on the above-described occasion is consistent with such", "paragraph_id": "para_94" }, { "text": "practices.", "paragraph_id": "para_95" }, { "text": "Frick took this evidence to the MINE office. Frick conducted all three trash pulls", "paragraph_id": "para_96" }, { "text": "at the public street curb outside the curtilage of the 38th Street house.", "paragraph_id": "para_97" }, { "text": "Relying on the evidence obtained from these trash pulls, Frick applied for", "paragraph_id": "para_98" }, { "text": "and obtained a search warrant for the 38th Street house. Officers executed the", "paragraph_id": "para_99" }, { "text": "warrant and found additional evidence of drug distribution inside the home.", "paragraph_id": "para_100" }, { "text": "Charles and Mandracchia were charged with possession of a controlled", "paragraph_id": "para_101" }, { "text": "substance with intent to deliver in violation of Iowa Code section 124.401(1)(d).", "paragraph_id": "para_102" }, { "text": "Charles was also charged with possession of a controlled substance in violation", "paragraph_id": "para_103" }, { "text": "of section 124.401(5) and failure to possess a tax stamp in violation of sections", "paragraph_id": "para_104" }, { "text": "453B.3 and 453B.12.", "paragraph_id": "para_105" }, { "text": "The defendants filed motions to suppress the evidence found in the", "paragraph_id": "para_106" }, { "text": "garbage bags as well as the evidence obtained by the search of the house as", "paragraph_id": "para_107" }, { "text": "fruits of the poisonous tree. The district court held a hearing on the motions.", "paragraph_id": "para_108" }, { "text": "5", "paragraph_id": "para_109" }, { "text": "Neither the State nor the defendants called any witnesses. The State conceded", "paragraph_id": "para_110" }, { "text": "that if the searches of the garbage bags were unconstitutional, then the search", "paragraph_id": "para_111" }, { "text": "warrant for the 38th Street house was invalid because the evidence found in the", "paragraph_id": "para_112" }, { "text": "trash pulls had provided the probable cause justifying the warrant to search the", "paragraph_id": "para_113" }, { "text": "home. Similarly, the defendants conceded that if the trash pulls were", "paragraph_id": "para_114" }, { "text": "constitutional, then the search warrant was supported by probable cause. As the", "paragraph_id": "para_115" }, { "text": "district court succinctly summarized the parties’ positions, “trash rips, good;", "paragraph_id": "para_116" }, { "text": "warrant, good. Trash rips, not good, everything gets excluded.”", "paragraph_id": "para_117" }, { "text": "The defendants argued that “the Supreme Court found in State v.", "paragraph_id": "para_118" }, { "text": "Wright . . . that an officer’s warrantless seizure of trash bags and subsequent", "paragraph_id": "para_119" }, { "text": "search of the contents within, were a violation of a citizen’s reasonable", "paragraph_id": "para_120" }, { "text": "expectation of privacy and thus violates [a]rticle I, [s]ection 8 of the Iowa", "paragraph_id": "para_121" }, { "text": "Constitution.” The State argued that Iowa Code section 808.16 authorized", "paragraph_id": "para_122" }, { "text": "Frick’s trash pulls consistent with Wright. The defendants responded by arguing", "paragraph_id": "para_123" }, { "text": "that section 808.16 is facially unconstitutional.", "paragraph_id": "para_124" }, { "text": "The district court ruled that Iowa Code section 808.16 is facially", "paragraph_id": "para_125" }, { "text": "unconstitutional in its entirety, and the evidence obtained from the garbage bags", "paragraph_id": "para_126" }, { "text": "and the search of the house must be suppressed. The district court ruled that", "paragraph_id": "para_127" }, { "text": "the legislature violated the separation of powers doctrine when it enacted Iowa", "paragraph_id": "para_128" }, { "text": "Code section 808.16:", "paragraph_id": "para_129" }, { "text": "It is clear from a plain reading of the statute that the", "paragraph_id": "para_130" }, { "text": "legislature intended to do far more than simply clarify the property", "paragraph_id": "para_131" }, { "text": "rights of a resident in his or her garbage, as suggested by the state.", "paragraph_id": "para_132" }, { "text": "It addressed what is or is not a citizen’s reasonable expectation of", "paragraph_id": "para_133" }, { "text": "privacy, what are to be considered constitutionally protected papers", "paragraph_id": "para_134" }, { "text": "and effects, and dictates when a warrantless search can occur. All", "paragraph_id": "para_135" }, { "text": "of these subjects derive from article I, section 8 of the Iowa", "paragraph_id": "para_136" }, { "text": "Constitution, a source whose meaning is left to the courts as the", "paragraph_id": "para_137" }, { "text": "final arbiter. While this role as final arbiter is typically applied to", "paragraph_id": "para_138" }, { "text": "justify the Iowa court’s independence from federal interpretations of", "paragraph_id": "para_139" }, { "text": "similar language in the United States Constitution, it is equally", "paragraph_id": "para_140" }, { "text": "6", "paragraph_id": "para_141" }, { "text": "applicable in determining who has the final say vis-à-vis the", "paragraph_id": "para_142" }, { "text": "legislature in determining what is constitutional . . . .", "paragraph_id": "para_143" }, { "text": "(Footnote omitted) (citations omitted.) The State filed a motion to reconsider,", "paragraph_id": "para_144" }, { "text": "which the district court denied. The State then filed an application for", "paragraph_id": "para_145" }, { "text": "discretionary review, which we granted.", "paragraph_id": "para_146" }, { "text": "On appeal, the State argues that Iowa Code section 808.16 is", "paragraph_id": "para_147" }, { "text": "constitutional on its face and as applied. Specifically, the State asserts that", "paragraph_id": "para_148" }, { "text": "“Wright explained that the positive law sets expectations for privacy under the", "paragraph_id": "para_149" }, { "text": "Iowa Constitution, and the district court erred by interpreting Wright as instead", "paragraph_id": "para_150" }, { "text": "constitutionalizing the then-existing positive law.” The State reasons that Iowa", "paragraph_id": "para_151" }, { "text": "Code section 808.16 amends the currently existing positive law that undergirds", "paragraph_id": "para_152" }, { "text": "the Wright analysis. In the alternative, if section 808.16 cannot be harmonized", "paragraph_id": "para_153" }, { "text": "with Wright’s constitutional analysis, the State asks us to overrule Wright.", "paragraph_id": "para_154" }, { "text": "The defendants argue that the district court’s ruling was correct.", "paragraph_id": "para_155" }, { "text": "Mandracchia argues that “[e]ach portion of section 808.16 purports to make", "paragraph_id": "para_156" }, { "text": "constitutional determinations, with the plain purpose to overturn the Iowa", "paragraph_id": "para_157" }, { "text": "Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Iowa Constitution.” Similarly, Charles", "paragraph_id": "para_158" }, { "text": "argues that “there is no other way to interpret the legislature[’]s actions other", "paragraph_id": "para_159" }, { "text": "than an attempt to rewrite [a]rticle I, [s]ection 8.” Accordingly, the defendants", "paragraph_id": "para_160" }, { "text": "argue that the legislature overstepped by enacting a statute that “violates the", "paragraph_id": "para_161" }, { "text": "constitutional separation of powers.” The defendants contend that Wright was", "paragraph_id": "para_162" }, { "text": "correctly decided and should not be overruled because “nothing is different today", "paragraph_id": "para_163" }, { "text": "than it was when Wright was decided just three years ago.” We retained the case.", "paragraph_id": "para_164" }, { "text": "II. Standard of Review.", "paragraph_id": "para_165" }, { "text": "We review de novo a district court’s ruling on a motion to suppress based", "paragraph_id": "para_166" }, { "text": "on an alleged deprivation of a constitutional right. State v. Young, 15 N.W.3d 61,", "paragraph_id": "para_167" }, { "text": "64 (Iowa 2024). “We independently evaluate the entire record and consider the", "paragraph_id": "para_168" }, { "text": "7", "paragraph_id": "para_169" }, { "text": "totality of the circumstances.” Id. (quoting State v. Bauler, 8 N.W.3d 892, 897", "paragraph_id": "para_170" }, { "text": "(Iowa 2024)). “We defer to the findings of fact made by the district court, ‘but we", "paragraph_id": "para_171" }, { "text": "are not bound by them.’ ” Id. (quoting Bauler, 8 N.W.3d at 897).", "paragraph_id": "para_172" }, { "text": "III. Analysis.", "paragraph_id": "para_173" }, { "text": "The State argues that the garbage Detective Frick searched without a", "paragraph_id": "para_174" }, { "text": "warrant was abandoned property under Iowa Code section 808.16(3). The", "paragraph_id": "para_175" }, { "text": "defendants argue that the district court correctly ruled that the entire statute is", "paragraph_id": "para_176" }, { "text": "unconstitutional under Wright because their garbage included their “papers and", "paragraph_id": "para_177" }, { "text": "effects” entitled to protection under article I, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution,", "paragraph_id": "para_178" }, { "text": "which states,", "paragraph_id": "para_179" }, { "text": "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers", "paragraph_id": "para_180" }, { "text": "and effects, against unreasonable seizures and searches shall not", "paragraph_id": "para_181" }, { "text": "be violated; and no warrant shall issue but on probable cause,", "paragraph_id": "para_182" }, { "text": "supported by oath or affirmation, particularly describing the place", "paragraph_id": "para_183" }, { "text": "to be searched, and the persons and things to be seized.", "paragraph_id": "para_184" }, { "text": "(Emphasis added.)", "paragraph_id": "para_185" }, { "text": "In holding that a police officer’s warrantless trash pull was", "paragraph_id": "para_186" }, { "text": "unconstitutional under article I, section 8, Wright expressly relied on positive", "paragraph_id": "para_187" }, { "text": "law, specifically a local antiscavenging ordinance. See 961 N.W.2d at 415–19.", "paragraph_id": "para_188" }, { "text": "We emphasized that point in State v. Bauler:", "paragraph_id": "para_189" }, { "text": "We begin by summarizing Wright. It is important to note that", "paragraph_id": "para_190" }, { "text": "some of the lead opinion in Wright—specifically parts II, III, and", "paragraph_id": "para_191" }, { "text": "IV(A), including footnote 5—did not have the support of a majority.", "paragraph_id": "para_192" }, { "text": "See [961 N.W.2d] at 420 (Appel, J., specially concurring). In the", "paragraph_id": "para_193" }, { "text": "portions of the opinion that had the support of a majority, this court", "paragraph_id": "para_194" }, { "text": "decided: (1) that the defendant had not abandoned the garbage", "paragraph_id": "para_195" }, { "text": "because a local ordinance prohibited anyone from taking or", "paragraph_id": "para_196" }, { "text": "collecting any solid waste which has been put for collection “unless", "paragraph_id": "para_197" }, { "text": "such person is an authorized solid waste collector,” id. at 415–16", "paragraph_id": "para_198" }, { "text": "(quoting Clear Lake, Iowa, Code of Ordinances § 105.11(4) (2003));", "paragraph_id": "para_199" }, { "text": "(2) that the officer committed a trespass because he violated this", "paragraph_id": "para_200" }, { "text": "ordinance, id. at 416–17; and (3) that the officer also violated the", "paragraph_id": "para_201" }, { "text": "8", "paragraph_id": "para_202" }, { "text": "defendant’s reasonable expectations of privacy because the", "paragraph_id": "para_203" }, { "text": "defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy based on the", "paragraph_id": "para_204" }, { "text": "ordinance, id. at 418–19. In other words, Wright appeared to hang", "paragraph_id": "para_205" }, { "text": "its hat primarily on the terms of a local ordinance prohibiting", "paragraph_id": "para_206" }, { "text": "“scavenging.” See id. at 415–17. In doing so, Wright incorporated", "paragraph_id": "para_207" }, { "text": "concepts set forth in a 2016 law review article—William Baude &", "paragraph_id": "para_208" }, { "text": "James Y. Stern, The Positive Law Model of the Fourth Amendment,", "paragraph_id": "para_209" }, { "text": "129 Harv. L. Rev. 1821 (2016) [hereinafter Baude & Stern]. See", "paragraph_id": "para_210" }, { "text": "Wright, 961 N.W.2d at 416–17.", "paragraph_id": "para_211" }, { "text": "8 N.W.3d at 903–04 (footnote omitted).", "paragraph_id": "para_212" }, { "text": "Wright thereby signaled that changes in state or local property law", "paragraph_id": "para_213" }, { "text": "governing trash disposal could, in turn, allow constitutional trash pulls by", "paragraph_id": "para_214" }, { "text": "police. See 961 N.W.2d at 415–17. The legislature promptly responded to Wright", "paragraph_id": "para_215" }, { "text": "by enacting Iowa Code section 808.16. A state statute generally will preempt a", "paragraph_id": "para_216" }, { "text": "conflicting local ordinance. See City of Davenport v. Seymour, 755 N.W.2d 533,", "paragraph_id": "para_217" }, { "text": "538–39 (Iowa 2008) (explaining preemption doctrine).", "paragraph_id": "para_218" }, { "text": "While the legislature clearly can override local antiscavenging ordinances,", "paragraph_id": "para_219" }, { "text": "it is equally “axiomatic that the legislature cannot pass a statute to override a", "paragraph_id": "para_220" }, { "text": "constitutional command.” Site A Landowners v. S. Cent. Reg’l Airport Agency, 977", "paragraph_id": "para_221" }, { "text": "N.W.2d 486, 499 (Iowa 2022). “[T]he Iowa Supreme Court ‘is the final arbiter’ of", "paragraph_id": "para_222" }, { "text": "what the Iowa Constitution means.” State v. Burns, 988 N.W.2d 352, 360 (Iowa", "paragraph_id": "para_223" }, { "text": "2023) (quoting West v. Am. Tel. & Tel. Co., 311 U.S. 223, 236 (1940)). We must", "paragraph_id": "para_224" }, { "text": "decide whether the district court erred by ruling that Iowa Code section 808.16", "paragraph_id": "para_225" }, { "text": "is facially unconstitutional in its entirety under Wright.", "paragraph_id": "para_226" }, { "text": "We begin with the text of the challenged statute. Iowa Code section 808.16", "paragraph_id": "para_227" }, { "text": "provides:", "paragraph_id": "para_228" }, { "text": "1. It is the public policy of this state that a person has no", "paragraph_id": "para_229" }, { "text": "reasonable expectation of privacy in garbage placed outside of the", "paragraph_id": "para_230" }, { "text": "person’s residence for waste collection in a publicly accessible area.", "paragraph_id": "para_231" }, { "text": "9", "paragraph_id": "para_232" }, { "text": "2. A city or county shall only adopt an ordinance or a", "paragraph_id": "para_233" }, { "text": "regulation concerning waste management and sanitation for the", "paragraph_id": "para_234" }, { "text": "purposes of promoting public health and cleanliness. An ordinance", "paragraph_id": "para_235" }, { "text": "or a regulation adopted by a city or county shall not be construed", "paragraph_id": "para_236" }, { "text": "by a person to create a reasonable expectation of privacy in garbage", "paragraph_id": "para_237" }, { "text": "placed outside of the person’s residence for waste collection in a", "paragraph_id": "para_238" }, { "text": "publicly accessible area.", "paragraph_id": "para_239" }, { "text": "3. Garbage placed outside of a person’s residence for waste", "paragraph_id": "para_240" }, { "text": "collection in a publicly accessible area shall be deemed abandoned", "paragraph_id": "para_241" }, { "text": "property and shall not be considered to be constitutionally protected", "paragraph_id": "para_242" }, { "text": "papers or effects of the person.", "paragraph_id": "para_243" }, { "text": "4. A peace officer may conduct a search and may seize garbage", "paragraph_id": "para_244" }, { "text": "placed outside of a person’s residence for waste collection in a", "paragraph_id": "para_245" }, { "text": "publicly accessible area without making an application for a search", "paragraph_id": "para_246" }, { "text": "warrant.", "paragraph_id": "para_247" }, { "text": "This statute was enacted in the next legislative session after Wright. See", "paragraph_id": "para_248" }, { "text": "2022 Iowa Acts ch. 1022 (codified at Iowa Code § 808.16). The obvious purpose", "paragraph_id": "para_249" }, { "text": "of the statute is to restore the authority of law enforcement to conduct", "paragraph_id": "para_250" }, { "text": "warrantless searches of garbage placed out for collection in a public area not", "paragraph_id": "para_251" }, { "text": "within the curtilage of a private home.1 To achieve that goal, the statute employs", "paragraph_id": "para_252" }, { "text": "a four-pronged belt-and-suspenders approach: (1) by declaring that persons", "paragraph_id": "para_253" }, { "text": "have no reasonable expectation of privacy in such garbage, Iowa Code", "paragraph_id": "para_254" }, { "text": "§ 808.16(1); (2) by overriding conflicting local ordinances, id. § 808.16(2); (3) by", "paragraph_id": "para_255" }, { "text": "providing that such garbage is deemed abandoned, id. § 808.16(3); and (4) by", "paragraph_id": "para_256" }, { "text": "providing that police officers may search such garbage without a warrant, id.", "paragraph_id": "para_257" }, { "text": "§ 808.16(4). The statute further declares that such garbage “shall not be", "paragraph_id": "para_258" }, { "text": "1Until Wright, Iowa law enforcement routinely conducted warrantless trash pulls based", "paragraph_id": "para_259" }, { "text": "on federal and Iowa precedent holding that garbage left curbside for collection was unprotected", "paragraph_id": "para_260" }, { "text": "by the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 8 of the Iowa", "paragraph_id": "para_261" }, { "text": "Constitution. See California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35, 40–41(1988) (Fourth Amendment);", "paragraph_id": "para_262" }, { "text": "State v. Henderson, 435 N.W.2d 394, 396–97 (Iowa Ct. App. 1988) (article I, section 8), overruled", "paragraph_id": "para_263" }, { "text": "by, Wright, 961 N.W.2d 396.", "paragraph_id": "para_264" }, { "text": "10", "paragraph_id": "para_265" }, { "text": "considered to be constitutionally protected papers or effects of the person.” Id.", "paragraph_id": "para_266" }, { "text": "§ 808.16(3).", "paragraph_id": "para_267" }, { "text": "“[W]e presume statutes are constitutional, ‘imposing on the challenger the", "paragraph_id": "para_268" }, { "text": "heavy burden of rebutting that presumption.’ ” Summit Carbon Sols., LLC v.", "paragraph_id": "para_269" }, { "text": "Kasischke, 14 N.W.3d 119, 126 (Iowa 2024) (alteration in original) (quoting In re", "paragraph_id": "para_270" }, { "text": "Guardianship of L.Y., 968 N.W.2d 882, 892 (Iowa 2022)); see also Iowa Code", "paragraph_id": "para_271" }, { "text": "§ 4.4(1) (“In enacting a statute, it is presumed that . . . [c]ompliance with the", "paragraph_id": "para_272" }, { "text": "Constitutions of the state and of the United States is intended.”). The defendants", "paragraph_id": "para_273" }, { "text": "argued, and the district court ruled, that section 808.16 is unconstitutional on", "paragraph_id": "para_274" }, { "text": "its face. “ ‘A facial challenge asserts the law always operates unconstitutionally", "paragraph_id": "para_275" }, { "text": "and not just as applied in particular circumstances,’ making it the most difficult", "paragraph_id": "para_276" }, { "text": "challenge a plaintiff can mount.” Summit Carbon Sols., 14 N.W.3d at 126 (quoting", "paragraph_id": "para_277" }, { "text": "League of United Latin Am. Citizens of Iowa v. Pate, 950 N.W.2d 204, 209 (Iowa", "paragraph_id": "para_278" }, { "text": "2020) (per curiam)). “If there is any set of facts where the statute could be held", "paragraph_id": "para_279" }, { "text": "constitutional, we will reject the facial challenge.” Id. Facial challenges are", "paragraph_id": "para_280" }, { "text": "disfavored for good reasons. See Singer v. City of Orange City, 15 N.W.3d 70, 77", "paragraph_id": "para_281" }, { "text": "(Iowa 2024).", "paragraph_id": "para_282" }, { "text": "We conclude that Charles and Mandracchia failed to meet their heavy", "paragraph_id": "para_283" }, { "text": "burden to show that section 808.16 always operates unconstitutionally. The", "paragraph_id": "para_284" }, { "text": "district court erred by striking down the entire enactment as facially", "paragraph_id": "para_285" }, { "text": "unconstitutional. The defendants’ facial challenge fails because at least one", "paragraph_id": "para_286" }, { "text": "severable provision of the statute operates constitutionally to authorize the", "paragraph_id": "para_287" }, { "text": "challenged warrantless trash pulls. See Breeden v. Iowa Dep’t of Corr., 887", "paragraph_id": "para_288" }, { "text": "N.W.2d 602, 608–09 (Iowa 2016) (discussing severability doctrine).", "paragraph_id": "para_289" }, { "text": "That provision is found in subsection (3) of section 808.16, which states", "paragraph_id": "para_290" }, { "text": "in pertinent part, “Garbage placed outside of a person’s residence for waste", "paragraph_id": "para_291" }, { "text": "11", "paragraph_id": "para_292" }, { "text": "collection in a publicly accessible area shall be deemed abandoned", "paragraph_id": "para_293" }, { "text": "property . . . .” Iowa Code § 808.16(3). In our view, this provision fits comfortably", "paragraph_id": "para_294" }, { "text": "within the legislature’s broad police power over public health, safety, and welfare.", "paragraph_id": "para_295" }, { "text": "See generally Gravert v. Nebergall, 539 N.W.2d 184, 186 (Iowa 1995) (“Police", "paragraph_id": "para_296" }, { "text": "power refers to the legislature’s broad, inherent power to pass laws that promote", "paragraph_id": "para_297" }, { "text": "the public health, safety, and welfare.”); see also Garrison v. New Fashion Pork", "paragraph_id": "para_298" }, { "text": "LLP, 977 N.W.2d 67, 85 (Iowa 2022) (applying deferential review to legislative", "paragraph_id": "para_299" }, { "text": "enactments altering private property rights). The legislature has enacted", "paragraph_id": "para_300" }, { "text": "legislation defining when property is abandoned in a variety of contexts.2 Nothing", "paragraph_id": "para_301" }, { "text": "in Wright precludes the legislature from conclusively declaring that Iowans have", "paragraph_id": "para_302" }, { "text": "abandoned any ownership rights in trash they placed in garbage cans for", "paragraph_id": "para_303" }, { "text": "collection outside their home’s curtilage in a publicly accessible place.3", "paragraph_id": "para_304" }, { "text": "As noted, Wright repeatedly relied on positive law—specifically the local", "paragraph_id": "para_305" }, { "text": "antiscavenging ordinance—to conclude that the defendant “had not yet", "paragraph_id": "para_306" }, { "text": "abandoned” his papers and effects that he put in his garbage can for collection.", "paragraph_id": "para_307" }, { "text": "961 N.W.2d at 415–16 (“Until such time as the garbage bags were collected by a", "paragraph_id": "para_308" }, { "text": "licensed collector and commingled with other garbage, Wright had not yet", "paragraph_id": "para_309" }, { "text": "abandoned the property.”); see also id. at 416–17 (relying on the antiscavenging", "paragraph_id": "para_310" }, { "text": "ordinance to conclude that the officer’s “warrantless seizures and searches were", "paragraph_id": "para_311" }, { "text": "2See, e.g., Iowa Code § 163.3D (abandoned animals); id. § 321.89 (abandoned vehicles);", "paragraph_id": "para_312" }, { "text": "id. § 455B.171(1) (abandoned wells); id. § 457A.3 (abandoned conservation easements); id.", "paragraph_id": "para_313" }, { "text": "§ 548.101(1) (abandoned trademarks); id. § 556G.1 (abandoned dry cleaning); id. § 657A.1", "paragraph_id": "para_314" }, { "text": "(abandoned buildings).", "paragraph_id": "para_315" }, { "text": "3We adhere to the constitutional avoidance doctrine and refrain from addressing the", "paragraph_id": "para_316" }, { "text": "constitutionality of the remaining language in Iowa Code section 808.16(3), which declares that", "paragraph_id": "para_317" }, { "text": "such garbage “shall not be considered to be constitutionally protected papers or effects of the", "paragraph_id": "para_318" }, { "text": "person.” That assertion logically follows abandonment, but it is our role, not the legislature’s, to", "paragraph_id": "para_319" }, { "text": "determine the constitutional protection afforded to papers and effects. That language is", "paragraph_id": "para_320" }, { "text": "severable. See Breedon, 887 N.W.2d at 608–09 (addressing severability and constitutional", "paragraph_id": "para_321" }, { "text": "avoidance).", "paragraph_id": "para_322" }, { "text": "12", "paragraph_id": "para_323" }, { "text": "thus an unlawful and unconstitutional physical trespass on Wright’s papers and", "paragraph_id": "para_324" }, { "text": "effects” in his not-yet abandoned garbage); id. at 417 (noting that the officer was", "paragraph_id": "para_325" }, { "text": "bound to obey the antiscavenging ordinance and stating that “where municipal", "paragraph_id": "para_326" }, { "text": "ordinances require trash collection by a licensed collector and prohibit", "paragraph_id": "para_327" }, { "text": "unauthorized persons from tampering with trash, the ordinances ‘should bring", "paragraph_id": "para_328" }, { "text": "with them the protection of the Fourth Amendment’ ” (quoting Baude & Stern,", "paragraph_id": "para_329" }, { "text": "129 Harv. L. Rev. at 1882)).", "paragraph_id": "para_330" }, { "text": "Wright also expressly relied on the antiscavenging ordinance as the source", "paragraph_id": "para_331" }, { "text": "of the defendant’s reasonable expectation of privacy in his garbage placed out for", "paragraph_id": "para_332" }, { "text": "collection:", "paragraph_id": "para_333" }, { "text": "Here, Wright had an expectation based on positive law that", "paragraph_id": "para_334" }, { "text": "his privacy, as a factual matter, would be lost, if at all, only in a", "paragraph_id": "para_335" }, { "text": "certain, limited way. Specifically, Wright had an expectation based", "paragraph_id": "para_336" }, { "text": "on positive law that his garbage bags would be accessed only by a", "paragraph_id": "para_337" }, { "text": "licensed collector under contract with the city. See Clear Lake, Iowa,", "paragraph_id": "para_338" }, { "text": "Code of Ordinances § 106.11. Wright had an expectation based on", "paragraph_id": "para_339" }, { "text": "positive law that it would be unlawful for others to access his trash.", "paragraph_id": "para_340" }, { "text": "See id. § 105.11(4); see also Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 143", "paragraph_id": "para_341" }, { "text": "n.12, (1978) (“Legitimation of expectations of privacy by law must", "paragraph_id": "para_342" }, { "text": "have a source outside of the Fourth Amendment, either by reference", "paragraph_id": "para_343" }, { "text": "to concepts of real or personal property law or to understandings", "paragraph_id": "para_344" }, { "text": "that are recognized and permitted by society.”).", "paragraph_id": "para_345" }, { "text": "Id. at 419. Conversely, the subsequent enactment of Iowa Code section 808.16(3)", "paragraph_id": "para_346" }, { "text": "preempts such local ordinances and eviscerates any reasonable expectation of", "paragraph_id": "para_347" }, { "text": "privacy in garbage placed curbside for collection.", "paragraph_id": "para_348" }, { "text": "As the foregoing discussions in Wright demonstrate, positive law, such as", "paragraph_id": "para_349" }, { "text": "a local ordinance, can define private property rights and thereby affect the", "paragraph_id": "para_350" }, { "text": "constitutional analysis of whether a person’s papers and effects have been", "paragraph_id": "para_351" }, { "text": "abandoned or not. And so, consistent with Wright, a change in the positive law", "paragraph_id": "para_352" }, { "text": "can make a difference. That is where the subsequent enactment of Iowa Code", "paragraph_id": "para_353" }, { "text": "13", "paragraph_id": "para_354" }, { "text": "section 808.16(3) comes in. No longer may local antiscavenging ordinances", "paragraph_id": "para_355" }, { "text": "support a finding that garbage placed outside defendants’ property for collection", "paragraph_id": "para_356" }, { "text": "is not yet abandoned. No longer may defendants claim that an officer conducting", "paragraph_id": "para_357" }, { "text": "a trash pull has committed a trespass. And no longer may defendants claim a", "paragraph_id": "para_358" }, { "text": "reasonable expectation of privacy in discarded trash. Section 808.16(3) trumps", "paragraph_id": "para_359" }, { "text": "any inconsistent local ordinance as a matter of state property law. See Seymour,", "paragraph_id": "para_360" }, { "text": "755 N.W.2d at 538–39. Section 808.16(3) establishes that such garbage", "paragraph_id": "para_361" }, { "text": "(including any papers or effects tossed out with it) has been abandoned as a", "paragraph_id": "para_362" }, { "text": "matter of law. Defendants cannot claim a constitutional violation when police", "paragraph_id": "para_363" }, { "text": "search abandoned property. Abel v. United States, 362 U.S. 217, 241 (1960);", "paragraph_id": "para_364" }, { "text": "Burns, 988 N.W.2d at 367–68; State v. Bumpus, 459 N.W.2d 619, 625 (Iowa", "paragraph_id": "para_365" }, { "text": "1990).", "paragraph_id": "para_366" }, { "text": "We hold that the abandonment provision in Iowa Code section 808.16(3)", "paragraph_id": "para_367" }, { "text": "is constitutional on its face and as applied here. Applying the constitutional", "paragraph_id": "para_368" }, { "text": "avoidance doctrine, we do not address the constitutionality of other provisions", "paragraph_id": "para_369" }, { "text": "in section 808.16, which in our view are severable. See Breeden, 887 N.W.2d", "paragraph_id": "para_370" }, { "text": "at 608–09.4", "paragraph_id": "para_371" }, { "text": "4In State v. Lowman, the Iowa District Court for Marion County took the same approach", "paragraph_id": "para_372" }, { "text": "that we do today. No. FECR033048 (Iowa Dist. Ct. May 2, 2024), appeal filed, No. 24–1388", "paragraph_id": "para_373" }, { "text": "(Aug. 29, 2024). In that case, the district court denied a motion to suppress evidence of", "paragraph_id": "para_374" }, { "text": "methamphetamine dealing obtained in a warrantless trash pull and rejected a constitutional", "paragraph_id": "para_375" }, { "text": "challenge to the abandonment provision in Iowa Code section 808.16(3). Judge Faith reasoned:", "paragraph_id": "para_376" }, { "text": "[T]he Defendant articulates no reason and cites no authority for the proposition", "paragraph_id": "para_377" }, { "text": "that the legislature cannot define circumstances in which property may be", "paragraph_id": "para_378" }, { "text": "deemed legally abandoned. Indeed, if the court can consider positive law in the", "paragraph_id": "para_379" }, { "text": "form of local garbage ordinances to establish when property is not abandoned,", "paragraph_id": "para_380" }, { "text": "and these ordinances are not an intrusion on the Court’s constitutional authority,", "paragraph_id": "para_381" }, { "text": "it is hard to conceive of an intellectually consistent rationale for finding it", "paragraph_id": "para_382" }, { "text": "unconstitutional for the state to enact positive law to establish when property is", "paragraph_id": "para_383" }, { "text": "abandoned. In either case, the law in question does not define a constitutional", "paragraph_id": "para_384" }, { "text": "right but provides a positive legal context for whether the owner’s act should be", "paragraph_id": "para_385" }, { "text": "construed as abandonment. The court need not determine if other portions of the", "paragraph_id": "para_386" }, { "text": "statute are constitutional since only the “deemed abandon[ed]” language is needed", "paragraph_id": "para_387" }, { "text": "for the present analysis.", "paragraph_id": "para_388" }, { "text": "14", "paragraph_id": "para_389" }, { "text": "State v. Burns is instructive. There, we determined that the defendant had", "paragraph_id": "para_390" }, { "text": "abandoned a beverage straw he had used and voluntarily left behind after dining", "paragraph_id": "para_391" }, { "text": "in a public restaurant. 988 N.W.2d at 363–64. We held that the straw containing", "paragraph_id": "para_392" }, { "text": "his DNA was no longer his “effect” entitled to constitutional protection under", "paragraph_id": "para_393" }, { "text": "article I, section 8. Id. at 367. We harmonized that conclusion with Wright as", "paragraph_id": "para_394" }, { "text": "follows:", "paragraph_id": "para_395" }, { "text": "In Wright, we explained that section 8 “precludes a peace officer from", "paragraph_id": "para_396" }, { "text": "engaging in general criminal investigation that constitutes a", "paragraph_id": "para_397" }, { "text": "trespass against a citizen’s house, papers, or effects.” Here, however,", "paragraph_id": "para_398" }, { "text": "the police did not trespass against or otherwise seize or search", "paragraph_id": "para_399" }, { "text": "Burns’s person, his house, his papers, or his effects. So, Wright does", "paragraph_id": "para_400" }, { "text": "not apply.", "paragraph_id": "para_401" }, { "text": "Id. (citation omitted) (quoting Wright, 961 N.W.2d at 417).5", "paragraph_id": "para_402" }, { "text": "Similarly, because under Iowa Code section 808.16(3), defendants Charles", "paragraph_id": "para_403" }, { "text": "and Mandracchia had abandoned their papers and effects in the garbage they", "paragraph_id": "para_404" }, { "text": "set out for collection, no constitutional violation occurred when Detective Frick", "paragraph_id": "para_405" }, { "text": "searched the garbage bags without a warrant. Police lawfully used that evidence", "paragraph_id": "para_406" }, { "text": "to establish probable cause for the validly issued warrant to search the Amble", "paragraph_id": "para_407" }, { "text": "house. The district court erred by granting the defendants’ motions to suppress.6", "paragraph_id": "para_408" }, { "text": "Based on the foregoing, this court concludes that the trash placed out for", "paragraph_id": "para_409" }, { "text": "collection by the Defendant, under the facts and positive legal framework of this", "paragraph_id": "para_410" }, { "text": "case, was bona vacantia, abandoned, and therefore was not his papers or effects", "paragraph_id": "para_411" }, { "text": "at the time they were seized and searched.", "paragraph_id": "para_412" }, { "text": "Id. at 5–6.", "paragraph_id": "para_413" }, { "text": "5We also noted that Iowa Code section 729.6(3)(c)(2) allows law enforcement to collect and", "paragraph_id": "para_414" }, { "text": "analyze DNA to “identify an individual in the course of a criminal investigation.” Burns, 988", "paragraph_id": "para_415" }, { "text": "N.W.2d at 367 (quoting Iowa Code § 729.6(3)(c)(2)). Based on that positive law, we determined", "paragraph_id": "para_416" }, { "text": "that “Burns could have no reasonable expectation that Iowa law enforcement would refrain from", "paragraph_id": "para_417" }, { "text": "using his DNA in their efforts to identify [the victim’s] killer.” Id. Similarly, Iowa Code section", "paragraph_id": "para_418" }, { "text": "808.16(3) defeats any reasonable expectation of privacy in garbage placed out for collection on a", "paragraph_id": "para_419" }, { "text": "public curb.", "paragraph_id": "para_420" }, { "text": "6State v. Kuuttila, 965 N.W.2d 484, 486–87 (Iowa 2021), and State v. Hahn, 961 N.W.2d", "paragraph_id": "para_421" }, { "text": "370, 372 (Iowa 2021), applied Wright without altering its positive law analysis. Both predated the", "paragraph_id": "para_422" }, { "text": "enactment of section 808.16. Going forward, our decision today is the controlling precedent for", "paragraph_id": "para_423" }, { "text": "reviewing trash pulls.", "paragraph_id": "para_424" }, { "text": "15", "paragraph_id": "para_425" }, { "text": "We determine that under the newly enacted and controlling statute, Iowa", "paragraph_id": "para_426" }, { "text": "Code section 808.16(3), defendants Charles and Mandracchia abandoned the", "paragraph_id": "para_427" }, { "text": "papers and effects they placed in the trash curbside for collection on July 3, 10,", "paragraph_id": "para_428" }, { "text": "and 17, 2023, including the THC vape cartridge and the packaging and baggies", "paragraph_id": "para_429" }, { "text": "with trace amounts of marijuana. Put another way, those items were no longer", "paragraph_id": "para_430" }, { "text": "“their” effects at the time of the trash pulls and therefore were unprotected by", "paragraph_id": "para_431" }, { "text": "the search and seizure clause of article I, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution. See", "paragraph_id": "para_432" }, { "text": "Wright, 961 N.W.2d at 415 (observing that a police officer’s search of garbage", "paragraph_id": "para_433" }, { "text": "“would be inconsequential if the papers and effects did not belong” to the", "paragraph_id": "para_434" }, { "text": "defendant).", "paragraph_id": "para_435" }, { "text": "The State urges our court to decide this appeal by harmonizing Iowa Code", "paragraph_id": "para_436" }, { "text": "section 808.16 with Wright. We have resolved the appeal on that basis. We", "paragraph_id": "para_437" }, { "text": "therefore do not reach the State’s alternative argument that Wright should be", "paragraph_id": "para_438" }, { "text": "overruled if section 808.16(3) cannot be harmonized with Wright. See Goodwin", "paragraph_id": "para_439" }, { "text": "v. Iowa Dist. Ct., 936 N.W.2d 634, 645 n.4 (Iowa 2019) (“We do not ordinarily", "paragraph_id": "para_440" }, { "text": "overrule our precedent sua sponte.” (quoting Est. of McFarlin v. State, 881", "paragraph_id": "para_441" }, { "text": "N.W.2d 51, 59 (Iowa 2016))).", "paragraph_id": "para_442" }, { "text": "IV. Disposition.", "paragraph_id": "para_443" }, { "text": "For the foregoing reasons, we reverse the district court’s suppression", "paragraph_id": "para_444" }, { "text": "ruling and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.", "paragraph_id": "para_445" }, { "text": "Reversed and Remanded.", "paragraph_id": "para_446" }, { "text": "All justices concur except McDermott, J., who files a dissenting opinion.", "paragraph_id": "para_447" }, { "text": "16", "paragraph_id": "para_448" }, { "text": "#23–2114, State v. Mandracchia and Amble", "paragraph_id": "para_449" }, { "text": "McDermott, Justice (dissenting).", "paragraph_id": "para_450" }, { "text": "With the passing of a statute declaring that trash left out for collection is", "paragraph_id": "para_451" }, { "text": "“abandoned,” police searches that we held not merely unlawful but", "paragraph_id": "para_452" }, { "text": "unconstitutional several years ago are now greenlit. If the majority’s", "paragraph_id": "para_453" }, { "text": "interpretation of State v. Wright is correct—that all the search-and-seizure", "paragraph_id": "para_454" }, { "text": "protection that the Iowa Constitution provides is what the legislature confers by", "paragraph_id": "para_455" }, { "text": "statute—then Wright’s demise today is no loss at all. The three justices who wrote", "paragraph_id": "para_456" }, { "text": "vigorous dissents in Wright certainly seemed to have thought that Wright stood", "paragraph_id": "para_457" }, { "text": "for something more consequential or enduring. Because I reject the notion that", "paragraph_id": "para_458" }, { "text": "the new statute requires us to find that the defendants have no privacy interest", "paragraph_id": "para_459" }, { "text": "in their trash, and I would hold instead that the defendants’ trash was protected", "paragraph_id": "para_460" }, { "text": "from a warrantless search, I must respectfully dissent.", "paragraph_id": "para_461" }, { "text": "I. The Wright Analysis.", "paragraph_id": "para_462" }, { "text": "The district court, relying on Wright, held that the officer’s warrantless", "paragraph_id": "para_463" }, { "text": "search of the defendants’ trash in this case violated article I, section 8, of the", "paragraph_id": "para_464" }, { "text": "Iowa Constitution. That provision states: “The right of the people to be secure in", "paragraph_id": "para_465" }, { "text": "their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable seizures and", "paragraph_id": "para_466" }, { "text": "searches shall not be violated; and no warrant shall issue but on probable cause,", "paragraph_id": "para_467" }, { "text": "supported by oath or affirmation, particularly describing the place to be", "paragraph_id": "para_468" }, { "text": "searched, and the persons and things to be seized.” Id. Among the evils that the", "paragraph_id": "para_469" }, { "text": "prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure was designed to protect", "paragraph_id": "para_470" }, { "text": "against was the abuse of suspicionless general warrants. See William J.", "paragraph_id": "para_471" }, { "text": "Cuddihy, The Fourth Amendment: Origins and Original Meaning 602–1791, at", "paragraph_id": "para_472" }, { "text": "603–13 (2009). General warrants allowed government officers to search a person", "paragraph_id": "para_473" }, { "text": "or property for evidence of wrongdoing without specifying what they were looking", "paragraph_id": "para_474" }, { "text": "17", "paragraph_id": "para_475" }, { "text": "for or why they had suspicion to search. See Sanders v. State, 2 Clarke 230, 239", "paragraph_id": "para_476" }, { "text": "(Iowa 1855). The officer did not possess a warrant to search the defendants’ trash", "paragraph_id": "para_477" }, { "text": "in this case.", "paragraph_id": "para_478" }, { "text": "In Wright, we examined whether a police officer’s warrantless search of a", "paragraph_id": "para_479" }, { "text": "trash bin left out for collection violated article I, section 8. 961 N.W.2d 396,", "paragraph_id": "para_480" }, { "text": "416–17 (Iowa 2021). In answering this question, we employed two modes of", "paragraph_id": "para_481" }, { "text": "analysis. Id. We first considered whether the search violated “positive law,”", "paragraph_id": "para_482" }, { "text": "referring to some enacted law or legal doctrine recognized by courts. Id. In Wright,", "paragraph_id": "para_483" }, { "text": "a municipal ordinance where the defendant lived made it a crime for anyone", "paragraph_id": "para_484" }, { "text": "other than a licensed trash collector to access a trash bin. Id. We concluded that", "paragraph_id": "para_485" }, { "text": "in light of the ordinance, the officer committed a trespass by searching the trash", "paragraph_id": "para_486" }, { "text": "without a warrant and thus violated the constitution. Id. at 417. We separately", "paragraph_id": "para_487" }, { "text": "considered whether the search violated the defendant’s reasonable expectation", "paragraph_id": "para_488" }, { "text": "of privacy. Id. at 417–18. We concluded that people maintained a reasonable", "paragraph_id": "para_489" }, { "text": "expectation of privacy in their trash left out for collection and held that the", "paragraph_id": "para_490" }, { "text": "officer’s warrantless search thus violated the constitution under this rationale", "paragraph_id": "para_491" }, { "text": "too. Id. at 418–19.", "paragraph_id": "para_492" }, { "text": "II. A Wright Without Teeth.", "paragraph_id": "para_493" }, { "text": "The majority in this case holds that a different law—a statute enacted after", "paragraph_id": "para_494" }, { "text": "our decision in Wright—now means that an officer’s warrantless search of trash", "paragraph_id": "para_495" }, { "text": "left out for collection is constitutionally permissible. But the majority fails to", "paragraph_id": "para_496" }, { "text": "recognize that it is our role, not the legislature’s, to construe the Iowa", "paragraph_id": "para_497" }, { "text": "Constitution, while also overlooking Wright’s separate holding under the", "paragraph_id": "para_498" }, { "text": "reasonable-expectation-of-privacy test.", "paragraph_id": "para_499" }, { "text": "A. The Judicial Power to Construe the Constitution. With Iowa Code", "paragraph_id": "para_500" }, { "text": "§ 808.16 (2023), the legislature makes an unabashed attempt to abrogate our", "paragraph_id": "para_501" }, { "text": "18", "paragraph_id": "para_502" }, { "text": "holding in Wright and to ensure that warrantless searches of trash do not violate", "paragraph_id": "para_503" }, { "text": "article I, section 8. The legislature’s attempt takes several forms.", "paragraph_id": "para_504" }, { "text": "First, in subsection (1), the statute asserts as a matter of “public policy of", "paragraph_id": "para_505" }, { "text": "this state” that people cannot have a reasonable expectation of privacy in trash", "paragraph_id": "para_506" }, { "text": "placed out for collection. Id. § 808.16(1). But the legislature’s disagreement with", "paragraph_id": "para_507" }, { "text": "our determination that people do have a reasonable expectation of privacy in", "paragraph_id": "para_508" }, { "text": "trash and our conclusion that a warrantless search of trash thus violates", "paragraph_id": "para_509" }, { "text": "constitutional safeguards does not override our court’s prerogative to interpret", "paragraph_id": "para_510" }, { "text": "and apply the constitution in cases before us. See State v. Burns, 988 N.W.2d", "paragraph_id": "para_511" }, { "text": "352, 360 (Iowa 2023) (“[T]he Iowa Supreme Court is the ‘final arbiter’ of what the", "paragraph_id": "para_512" }, { "text": "Iowa Constitution means.” (quoting West v. Am. Tel. & Tel. Co., 311 U.S. 223,", "paragraph_id": "para_513" }, { "text": "236 (1940))); Richardson v. Fitzgerald, 109 N.W. 866, 867 (Iowa 1906) (“As every", "paragraph_id": "para_514" }, { "text": "one knows, it is the province of the Legislature to enact, of the judiciary to", "paragraph_id": "para_515" }, { "text": "expound, and of the executive to enforce, the laws, and any direction by the", "paragraph_id": "para_516" }, { "text": "Legislature that the judicial function shall be performed in a particular way is a", "paragraph_id": "para_517" }, { "text": "plain violation of the Constitution.”) The statute’s assertion of what public policy", "paragraph_id": "para_518" }, { "text": "is doesn’t decide for us the constitutional question. Subsection (1) of the statute", "paragraph_id": "para_519" }, { "text": "thus has no effect on our analysis.", "paragraph_id": "para_520" }, { "text": "Subsection (2) begins with a statement that a city or county may only", "paragraph_id": "para_521" }, { "text": "regulate waste management to promote “public health and cleanliness,” but then", "paragraph_id": "para_522" }, { "text": "states that an ordinance or regulation “shall not be construed by a person to", "paragraph_id": "para_523" }, { "text": "create a reasonable expectation of privacy” in trash placed out for collection.", "paragraph_id": "para_524" }, { "text": "Iowa Code § 808.16(2). The first part of subsection (2) limiting city or county", "paragraph_id": "para_525" }, { "text": "regulations to promote public health and cleanliness, even if it constitutes a", "paragraph_id": "para_526" }, { "text": "proper legislative prerogative, offers nothing relevant to the analysis in this case.", "paragraph_id": "para_527" }, { "text": "The second part of subsection (2) simply asserts, again, that trash ordinances or", "paragraph_id": "para_528" }, { "text": "19", "paragraph_id": "para_529" }, { "text": "regulations do not create a reasonable expectation of privacy in trash placed out", "paragraph_id": "para_530" }, { "text": "for collection. This is ineffectual for the same reasons offered about subsection", "paragraph_id": "para_531" }, { "text": "(1).", "paragraph_id": "para_532" }, { "text": "Skipping subsection (3) for the moment, subsection (4) declares that an", "paragraph_id": "para_533" }, { "text": "officer may search and seize trash left out for collection “without making an", "paragraph_id": "para_534" }, { "text": "application for a search warrant.” Id. § 808.16(4). As before, the legislature’s", "paragraph_id": "para_535" }, { "text": "disagreement with our determination that people have a reasonable expectation", "paragraph_id": "para_536" }, { "text": "of privacy in trash—and that officers thus need a warrant under the requirement", "paragraph_id": "para_537" }, { "text": "in article I, section 8 to lawfully search it—does not override our court’s authority", "paragraph_id": "para_538" }, { "text": "to decide the constitutional question in cases before us. Subsection (4) of the", "paragraph_id": "para_539" }, { "text": "statute thus also has no effect on our analysis.", "paragraph_id": "para_540" }, { "text": "Subsection (3) states that trash placed out for collection “shall be deemed", "paragraph_id": "para_541" }, { "text": "abandoned property and shall not be considered to be constitutionally protected", "paragraph_id": "para_542" }, { "text": "papers or effects of the person.” Id. § 808.16(3). The majority concludes that this", "paragraph_id": "para_543" }, { "text": "part of the statute involves a proper legislative prerogative, and it is on this", "paragraph_id": "para_544" }, { "text": "provision that the majority pins its holding. The majority holds that no warrant", "paragraph_id": "para_545" }, { "text": "was needed because, in light of § 808.16(3), people have no constitutional", "paragraph_id": "para_546" }, { "text": "search-and-seizure protections in property that they abandon. Article I, section", "paragraph_id": "para_547" }, { "text": "8 does not apply to this case at all, in other words, because the trash in John", "paragraph_id": "para_548" }, { "text": "Mandracchia and Charles Amble’s bin is abandoned property because the", "paragraph_id": "para_549" }, { "text": "statute said so. And because it was abandoned property, the argument goes, the", "paragraph_id": "para_550" }, { "text": "contents of the trash bin were no longer their papers or effects.", "paragraph_id": "para_551" }, { "text": "But it is for the court, not the legislature, to determine whether conduct is", "paragraph_id": "para_552" }, { "text": "constitutional. Although we “give[] respectful consideration to the legislature’s", "paragraph_id": "para_553" }, { "text": "understanding of constitutional language,” the supreme court construes the", "paragraph_id": "para_554" }, { "text": "meaning of the constitution’s terms and “is the final arbiter of what the Iowa", "paragraph_id": "para_555" }, { "text": "20", "paragraph_id": "para_556" }, { "text": "Constitution means.” Green v. City of Cascade, 231 N.W.2d 882, 890", "paragraph_id": "para_557" }, { "text": "(Iowa 1975). The text of article I, section 8 divides the analysis into four", "paragraph_id": "para_558" }, { "text": "questions: (1) Is the subject of the alleged intrusion a person, house, paper, or", "paragraph_id": "para_559" }, { "text": "effect? (2) If so, was it searched or seized? (3) If so, was it the defendant’s (“their”)", "paragraph_id": "para_560" }, { "text": "person, house, paper, or effect? (4) If so, was the search or seizure unreasonable?", "paragraph_id": "para_561" }, { "text": "See Orin S. Kerr, Katz as Originalism, 71 Duke L.J. 1047, 1052 (2022). Whether", "paragraph_id": "para_562" }, { "text": "something is an “effect” and whether that effect belongs to someone—is “theirs”", "paragraph_id": "para_563" }, { "text": "for purposes of article I, section 8—is a determination of constitutional", "paragraph_id": "para_564" }, { "text": "dimension reserved for the court in cases before it. “It is emphatically the", "paragraph_id": "para_565" }, { "text": "province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.” Marbury v.", "paragraph_id": "para_566" }, { "text": "Madison, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) 137, 177 (1803).", "paragraph_id": "para_567" }, { "text": "Consider Junkins v. Branstad, where a group of legislators challenged the", "paragraph_id": "para_568" }, { "text": "use of the Governor’s constitutional line-item veto power. 421 N.W.2d 130, 132", "paragraph_id": "para_569" }, { "text": "(Iowa 1988) (en banc). The text of the constitution limits the Governor’s use of", "paragraph_id": "para_570" }, { "text": "the line-item veto to “an appropriation bill.” Id. at 131 (quoting Iowa Const. art.", "paragraph_id": "para_571" }, { "text": "III, § 16). The legislators argued that the Governor exercised the veto on", "paragraph_id": "para_572" }, { "text": "legislation that was not an “appropriation bill.” Id. at 134. In support, the", "paragraph_id": "para_573" }, { "text": "legislators pointed to a statute enacted in the next legislative session that defined", "paragraph_id": "para_574" }, { "text": "the term “appropriation bill” in a way that supported their argument. Id. But we", "paragraph_id": "para_575" }, { "text": "rejected that argument, stating that the constitutional question was “not within", "paragraph_id": "para_576" }, { "text": "the province of the legislature to decide.” Id. “Whatever purposes the legislative", "paragraph_id": "para_577" }, { "text": "definition of ‘appropriation bill’ may serve, it does not settle the constitutional", "paragraph_id": "para_578" }, { "text": "question.” Id. at 135. We held that “[t]his determination, notwithstanding the", "paragraph_id": "para_579" }, { "text": "legislative definition, is for the courts.” Id.", "paragraph_id": "para_580" }, { "text": "The legislature could not, for instance, end-run the Fifth Amendment to", "paragraph_id": "para_581" }, { "text": "the United States Constitution’s protection against the taking of private property", "paragraph_id": "para_582" }, { "text": "21", "paragraph_id": "para_583" }, { "text": "without just compensation by passing a law that says anytime a government", "paragraph_id": "para_584" }, { "text": "entity wants to take private land to build a road, that land “shall not be deemed", "paragraph_id": "para_585" }, { "text": "private property” under the law and thus no compensation for the taking is", "paragraph_id": "para_586" }, { "text": "required. Likewise, the legislature could not end-run the constitutional right to", "paragraph_id": "para_587" }, { "text": "keep and bear arms by passing a statute saying that rifles are not “arms” and", "paragraph_id": "para_588" }, { "text": "thus a statutory restriction on owning a rifle does not implicate article I, section", "paragraph_id": "para_589" }, { "text": "1A of the Iowa Constitution.", "paragraph_id": "para_590" }, { "text": "Just as the determination about what constitutes “property” or “arms”", "paragraph_id": "para_591" }, { "text": "under the Fifth Amendment and section 1A are questions of constitutional", "paragraph_id": "para_592" }, { "text": "dimension reserved for the court, so too is whether property constitutes the", "paragraph_id": "para_593" }, { "text": "defendants’ (“their”) effects under article I, section 8. Section 808.16’s assertion", "paragraph_id": "para_594" }, { "text": "about abandonment does not, and cannot, control our court’s interpretation and", "paragraph_id": "para_595" }, { "text": "application of the meaning of “their effects” in this case. See Junkins, 421 N.W.2d", "paragraph_id": "para_596" }, { "text": "at 135; Green, 231 N.W.2d at 890.", "paragraph_id": "para_597" }, { "text": "If the legislature can alter constitutional protections simply by passing a", "paragraph_id": "para_598" }, { "text": "statute negating a property interest that then mandates a particular", "paragraph_id": "para_599" }, { "text": "constitutional application, the constitution is no longer “superior, paramount", "paragraph_id": "para_600" }, { "text": "law, unchangeable by ordinary means.” Marbury, 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) at 177. The", "paragraph_id": "para_601" }, { "text": "constitution would instead be “on a level with ordinary legislative acts, and like", "paragraph_id": "para_602" }, { "text": "other acts, . . . alterable when the legislature shall please to alter it.” Id. Shifting", "paragraph_id": "para_603" }, { "text": "legislative majorities would wield an amendment power at odds with the", "paragraph_id": "para_604" }, { "text": "amendment process that the Iowa Constitution itself mandates in article X. “The", "paragraph_id": "para_605" }, { "text": "very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the", "paragraph_id": "para_606" }, { "text": "vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities", "paragraph_id": "para_607" }, { "text": "and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts.”", "paragraph_id": "para_608" }, { "text": "W. Va. State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 638 (1943) (Jackson, J.). The", "paragraph_id": "para_609" }, { "text": "22", "paragraph_id": "para_610" }, { "text": "majority’s decision today collides with bedrock constitutional principles on", "paragraph_id": "para_611" }, { "text": "multiple fronts.", "paragraph_id": "para_612" }, { "text": "B. Getting Wright Wrong. Wright rested on two separate rationales: a", "paragraph_id": "para_613" }, { "text": "positive-law analysis and a reasonable-expectation-of-privacy analysis. 961", "paragraph_id": "para_614" }, { "text": "N.W.2d at 417–19; see also State v. Kuuttila, 965 N.W.2d 484, 486–87", "paragraph_id": "para_615" }, { "text": "(Iowa 2021) (explaining “[b]oth rationales” on which Wright’s holding relied). The", "paragraph_id": "para_616" }, { "text": "majority further stumbles in failing to recognize Wright’s second rationale. In", "paragraph_id": "para_617" }, { "text": "Wright, we explained that people have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the", "paragraph_id": "para_618" }, { "text": "contents of their trash bins independent of the positive law analysis:", "paragraph_id": "para_619" }, { "text": "When a citizen places garbage out for collection in a closed garbage", "paragraph_id": "para_620" }, { "text": "bag, the contents of the bag are private, as a factual matter. The", "paragraph_id": "para_621" }, { "text": "citizen understands, however, that the contents of the bag may be", "paragraph_id": "para_622" }, { "text": "revealed to someone at some point in time. That a citizen may", "paragraph_id": "para_623" }, { "text": "actually lose privacy in certain things or in certain information at", "paragraph_id": "para_624" }, { "text": "some point in the future does not preclude the possibility that a", "paragraph_id": "para_625" }, { "text": "peace officer nonetheless violated the citizen’s right to privacy in", "paragraph_id": "para_626" }, { "text": "accessing the same things or information. “Privacy rights do not", "paragraph_id": "para_627" }, { "text": "protect a reasonable expectation that privacy will be maintained, but", "paragraph_id": "para_628" }, { "text": "rather a reasonable expectation that privacy will not be lost in", "paragraph_id": "para_629" }, { "text": "certain ways.”", "paragraph_id": "para_630" }, { "text": "961 N.W.2d at 418–19 (quoting Jeffrey M. Skopek, Untangling Privacy: Losses", "paragraph_id": "para_631" }, { "text": "Versus Violations, 105 Iowa L. Rev. 2169, 2174 (2020)). Quoting the LaFave", "paragraph_id": "para_632" }, { "text": "treatise, we stated that “the mere fact that a citizen elects to dispose of his", "paragraph_id": "para_633" }, { "text": "garbage in the customary way by making it available for pickup by a municipal", "paragraph_id": "para_634" }, { "text": "or privately-retained hauler is no basis for concluding that his expectation of", "paragraph_id": "para_635" }, { "text": "privacy as to that garbage is unjustified.” Id. at 419 (quoting 1 Wayne R. LaFave,", "paragraph_id": "para_636" }, { "text": "Search and Seizure: A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment § 2.6(c), at 933 (6th ed.", "paragraph_id": "para_637" }, { "text": "2020)).", "paragraph_id": "para_638" }, { "text": "We have relied on this rationale two other times. See State v. Hahn, 961", "paragraph_id": "para_639" }, { "text": "N.W.2d 370, 372 (Iowa 2021); Kuuttila, 965 N.W.2d at 486–87. In State v. Hahn,", "paragraph_id": "para_640" }, { "text": "23", "paragraph_id": "para_641" }, { "text": "we described Wright as holding “that law enforcement officers conducted an", "paragraph_id": "para_642" }, { "text": "unreasonable and thus unconstitutional seizure and search when they seized", "paragraph_id": "para_643" }, { "text": "and searched garbage bags left out for collection without first obtaining a", "paragraph_id": "para_644" }, { "text": "warrant.” Hahn, 961 N.W.2d at 372. We concluded that “[t]he same rationale”", "paragraph_id": "para_645" }, { "text": "applied to the trash search in Hahn and remanded the case. Id. But unlike in", "paragraph_id": "para_646" }, { "text": "Wright, where the city had an ordinance preventing a person from intermeddling", "paragraph_id": "para_647" }, { "text": "with another’s trash bin, no mention of an ordinance (or any other positive law)", "paragraph_id": "para_648" }, { "text": "appears in Hahn. See id. at 371–72. And although the city in State v. Kuuttila", "paragraph_id": "para_649" }, { "text": "had an ordinance, we also made clear that “[b]oth rationales” from Wright—", "paragraph_id": "para_650" }, { "text": "meaning the positive law and the reasonable expectation of privacy test—applied.", "paragraph_id": "para_651" }, { "text": "965 N.W.2d at 486–87. The majority relegates Hahn and Kuuttila to a footnote", "paragraph_id": "para_652" }, { "text": "and claims that today’s decision “is the controlling precedent for reviewing trash", "paragraph_id": "para_653" }, { "text": "pulls,” without acknowledging that Hahn solely relied on Wright’s second", "paragraph_id": "para_654" }, { "text": "rationale and Kuuttila applied it too.", "paragraph_id": "para_655" }, { "text": "The positive law is one, but certainly not the only, approach that we", "paragraph_id": "para_656" }, { "text": "consider in analyzing whether an officer has infringed a person’s search-and-", "paragraph_id": "para_657" }, { "text": "seizure rights. See Orin S. Kerr, Four Models of Fourth Amendment Protection, 60", "paragraph_id": "para_658" }, { "text": "Stan. L. Rev. 503, 506, 519 (2007). We said as much in Wright: “Of course, this", "paragraph_id": "para_659" }, { "text": "is not to say article I, section 8 rises and falls based on a particular municipal", "paragraph_id": "para_660" }, { "text": "law. Municipal laws, like all positive laws, are merely one form of evidence of the", "paragraph_id": "para_661" }, { "text": "limits of a peace officer’s authority to act without a warrant.” 961 N.W.2d at 417.", "paragraph_id": "para_662" }, { "text": "The reasonable-expectation-of-privacy test that we apply under article I, section", "paragraph_id": "para_663" }, { "text": "8 remains the overarching test for determining whether a search-and-seizure", "paragraph_id": "para_664" }, { "text": "violation has occurred. See Hahn, 961 N.W.2d at 372; see also Katz v. United", "paragraph_id": "para_665" }, { "text": "States 389 U.S. 347, 360–61 (1967) (Harlan, J., concurring).", "paragraph_id": "para_666" }, { "text": "24", "paragraph_id": "para_667" }, { "text": "To begin, as we recognized in Wright, our trash “contains intimate and", "paragraph_id": "para_668" }, { "text": "private details of life.” 961 N.W.2d at 418. Private information about our families,", "paragraph_id": "para_669" }, { "text": "friendships, political activities, religious activities, personal finances,", "paragraph_id": "para_670" }, { "text": "professional engagements, and sexual associations are all potentially on display.", "paragraph_id": "para_671" }, { "text": "Greeting cards, bank statements, church bulletins, voter registration cards, loan", "paragraph_id": "para_672" }, { "text": "documents, health insurance forms, receipts, pregnancy tests, empty", "paragraph_id": "para_673" }, { "text": "prescription bottles—all potentially appear in our trash and all potentially reveal", "paragraph_id": "para_674" }, { "text": "private details about us. Information that is independently protected by law can", "paragraph_id": "para_675" }, { "text": "be revealed in one’s trash, too. An empty pill bottle reveals protected health", "paragraph_id": "para_676" }, { "text": "information. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 1320d(4) (defining health information to include", "paragraph_id": "para_677" }, { "text": "“any information . . . that . . . relates to the past, present, or future physical or", "paragraph_id": "para_678" }, { "text": "mental health or condition of an individual”), 1320d–6(a) (prohibiting a person", "paragraph_id": "para_679" }, { "text": "from knowingly acquiring health information). A library checkout receipt reveals", "paragraph_id": "para_680" }, { "text": "information not otherwise obtainable without violating state law. See Iowa Code", "paragraph_id": "para_681" }, { "text": "§ 22.7(13). The same holds true for a student’s school records. See id. § 22.7(1).", "paragraph_id": "para_682" }, { "text": "Whether a person has a privacy interest in their trash often raises", "paragraph_id": "para_683" }, { "text": "questions about abandonment. See, e.g., Wright, 961 N.W.2d at 437", "paragraph_id": "para_684" }, { "text": "(Christensen, C.J., dissenting). If people abandon property, it is no longer “theirs”", "paragraph_id": "para_685" }, { "text": "and thus no longer their “effect.” See State v. Bumpus, 459 N.W.2d 619, 625", "paragraph_id": "para_686" }, { "text": "(Iowa 1990). In deciding whether someone has abandoned property, we consider", "paragraph_id": "para_687" }, { "text": "whether the alleged abandonment was voluntary. Id. Under Iowa law,", "paragraph_id": "para_688" }, { "text": "“[a]bandonment is shown by proof that the owner intends to abandon the", "paragraph_id": "para_689" }, { "text": "property and has voluntarily relinquished all right, title and interest in the", "paragraph_id": "para_690" }, { "text": "property.” Benjamin v. Lindner Aviation, Inc., 534 N.W.2d 400, 406 (Iowa 1995)", "paragraph_id": "para_691" }, { "text": "(en banc). Because people have little choice but to put their trash out for", "paragraph_id": "para_692" }, { "text": "25", "paragraph_id": "para_693" }, { "text": "municipal collection, I find the element of voluntariness generally lacking with", "paragraph_id": "para_694" }, { "text": "residential trash.", "paragraph_id": "para_695" }, { "text": "Unlike today, people at the time of Iowa’s founding disposed of their trash", "paragraph_id": "para_696" }, { "text": "on their own and thus could rid themselves of it without exposing it to others.", "paragraph_id": "para_697" }, { "text": "At the time, municipal trash collection was still largely a thing of the future.", "paragraph_id": "para_698" }, { "text": "Municipal trash collection efforts started around the mid-1800s, when it became", "paragraph_id": "para_699" }, { "text": "clear that accumulating garbage was having harmful health effects. Martin V.", "paragraph_id": "para_700" }, { "text": "Melosi, The Sanitary City: Environmental Services in Urban America from Colonial", "paragraph_id": "para_701" }, { "text": "Times to the Present 28 (abr. ed. 2008) [hereinafter Melosi, The Sanitary City].", "paragraph_id": "para_702" }, { "text": "But despite America’s rapid urbanization during this period, “attempts by", "paragraph_id": "para_703" }, { "text": "American cities to deal with growing amounts of garbage could be described as", "paragraph_id": "para_704" }, { "text": "haphazard at best.” See Ann E. Carlson, Recycling Norms, 89 Cal. L. Rev. 1231,", "paragraph_id": "para_705" }, { "text": "1254–55 (2001).", "paragraph_id": "para_706" }, { "text": "As urban areas began to grow in population, the American economy was", "paragraph_id": "para_707" }, { "text": "shifting to producing and selling more consumable products. Melosi, The", "paragraph_id": "para_708" }, { "text": "Sanitary City at 114. The items Americans were consuming were also beginning", "paragraph_id": "para_709" }, { "text": "to be packaged, creating more trash. Eduardo M. Peñalver, The Illusory Right to", "paragraph_id": "para_710" }, { "text": "Abandon, 109 Mich. L. Rev. 191, 214–15 (2010) [hereinafter Peñalver]. With more", "paragraph_id": "para_711" }, { "text": "people living in more geographically confined spaces producing more trash, by", "paragraph_id": "para_712" }, { "text": "the 1880s, “[t]he ‘garbage problem’ began to receive public notoriety.” Melosi, The", "paragraph_id": "para_713" }, { "text": "Sanitary City, at 113. Cities at first struggled with how to go about collecting", "paragraph_id": "para_714" }, { "text": "garbage. Id. at 119.", "paragraph_id": "para_715" }, { "text": "Rural areas were slower adopters of municipal trash collection and instead", "paragraph_id": "para_716" }, { "text": "granted “some liberty to each citizen to select a disposal of his refuse most", "paragraph_id": "para_717" }, { "text": "satisfactory to himself.” Rudolph Hering & Samuel A. Greeley, Collection and", "paragraph_id": "para_718" }, { "text": "Disposal of Municipal Refuse 618 (1921). People in these areas usually handled", "paragraph_id": "para_719" }, { "text": "26", "paragraph_id": "para_720" }, { "text": "their trash in a traditional agrarian way: they reused it, fed it to farm animals,", "paragraph_id": "para_721" }, { "text": "or would just let it accumulate. See, e.g., id.; Peñalver, 109 Mich. L. Rev. at 214–", "paragraph_id": "para_722" }, { "text": "15.", "paragraph_id": "para_723" }, { "text": "Iowa’s experience with trash collection seems to have been typical of the", "paragraph_id": "para_724" }, { "text": "times. Beginning in the mid-1800s, researchers began to survey different cities’", "paragraph_id": "para_725" }, { "text": "sanitation practices. See Melosi, The Sanitary City, at 43–44. In 1880, the United", "paragraph_id": "para_726" }, { "text": "States Census incorporated this research into reports that it prepared on over", "paragraph_id": "para_727" }, { "text": "100 cities across the country. Id. at 119. The census collected sanitation practice", "paragraph_id": "para_728" }, { "text": "data from six Iowa cities: Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Davenport,", "paragraph_id": "para_729" }, { "text": "Des Moines, and Keokuk. George E. Waring, Jr., Dep’t of Interior, Report on the", "paragraph_id": "para_730" }, { "text": "Social Statistics of Cities, Part II: The Southern and the Western States 707–37", "paragraph_id": "para_731" }, { "text": "(photo. reprt. 1991) (1887). At the time, Davenport and Des Moines—the two", "paragraph_id": "para_732" }, { "text": "largest Iowa cities that had available data—were the only ones with a municipal", "paragraph_id": "para_733" }, { "text": "trash collection service. Id. at 723, 728. The other cities (Burlington, Cedar", "paragraph_id": "para_734" }, { "text": "Rapids, Council Bluffs, and Keokuk) permitted residents to do with their garbage", "paragraph_id": "para_735" }, { "text": "as they pleased. Id. at 710, 714, 717, 737. Des Moines, which had a population", "paragraph_id": "para_736" }, { "text": "of 22,408 people, used city workers to remove garbage, but residents were also", "paragraph_id": "para_737" }, { "text": "allowed to dispose of their garbage on their own. Id. at 728.", "paragraph_id": "para_738" }, { "text": "Sanitation practices obviously look very different today. The Iowa", "paragraph_id": "para_739" }, { "text": "legislature, state agencies, and municipalities now regulate various components", "paragraph_id": "para_740" }, { "text": "of the system. See 1986 Iowa Acts ch. 1245, §§ 1802, 1806 (codified at Iowa Code", "paragraph_id": "para_741" }, { "text": "§§ 455A.2, .6 (1987)). In 1992, the legislature—for the first time—passed a law", "paragraph_id": "para_742" }, { "text": "that regulated the disposal of trash. See 1992 Iowa Acts ch. 1215, § 10 (codified", "paragraph_id": "para_743" }, { "text": "at Iowa Code § 455B.307A (1993)). It prohibited people from discarding their", "paragraph_id": "para_744" }, { "text": "“solid waste”—defined to include “garbage, refuse, rubbish, and other similar", "paragraph_id": "para_745" }, { "text": "discarded solid or semisolid materials”—onto or into any land or water owned by", "paragraph_id": "para_746" }, { "text": "27", "paragraph_id": "para_747" }, { "text": "the state. Iowa Code §§ 455B.301(20), .307A(1) (1993). It also prohibited people", "paragraph_id": "para_748" }, { "text": "from placing their trash into other people’s trash bins. Id. § 455B.307A.", "paragraph_id": "para_749" }, { "text": "The Iowa Environmental Protection Commission now regulates disposal", "paragraph_id": "para_750" }, { "text": "methods as well, including the burning of trash. See generally Iowa Admin. Code", "paragraph_id": "para_751" }, { "text": "r. 567—23.2. The “open burning” of one’s trash is prohibited. Id. r. 567—23.2(1).", "paragraph_id": "para_752" }, { "text": "Although there are a number of exemptions to the open-burning prohibition, see", "paragraph_id": "para_753" }, { "text": "id. r. 567—23.2(3)(a)–(j), certain cities, including Des Moines, cannot claim these", "paragraph_id": "para_754" }, { "text": "exemptions, id. r. 567—23.2(3). Additionally, local ordinances and regulations", "paragraph_id": "para_755" }, { "text": "can preempt these exemptions. Id.; see also id. r. 567—23.2(3)(f). As a result,", "paragraph_id": "para_756" }, { "text": "even if the state does not prevent open burning in, say, Davenport, the City of", "paragraph_id": "para_757" }, { "text": "Davenport can impose its own prohibition, which it has. See Davenport, Iowa,", "paragraph_id": "para_758" }, { "text": "Municipal Code § 15.32.030(B) (2024) (“No person shall ignite . . . an open fire", "paragraph_id": "para_759" }, { "text": "containing any garbage . . . .”).", "paragraph_id": "para_760" }, { "text": "In Des Moines, where the defendants in this case resided, the city provides", "paragraph_id": "para_761" }, { "text": "trash collection services. See Des Moines, Iowa, Code of Ordinances § 98-54", "paragraph_id": "para_762" }, { "text": "(2025). Unless the owner of a house or building can demonstrate that it’s", "paragraph_id": "para_763" }, { "text": "unoccupied and uninhabitable, the city will charge for trash collection whether", "paragraph_id": "para_764" }, { "text": "one sets their trash out for collection or not. Id. § 98-54(7). Des Moines residents", "paragraph_id": "para_765" }, { "text": "are forbidden from holding onto their trash, as the city’s ordinances prohibit the", "paragraph_id": "para_766" }, { "text": "hoarding of items on any premises in Des Moines. Id. § 98-60. Des Moines", "paragraph_id": "para_767" }, { "text": "residents also cannot dump their trash within the city. Id. § 54-176. Although", "paragraph_id": "para_768" }, { "text": "residents can take their trash to the landfill, doing so subjects even the person’s", "paragraph_id": "para_769" }, { "text": "vehicle used to transport the trash to random inspection. See Metro Waste Auth.,", "paragraph_id": "para_770" }, { "text": "Landfill Rules & Policies, https://www.mwatoday.com/locations/metro-park-east-", "paragraph_id": "para_771" }, { "text": "landfill/rules--policies [https://perma.cc/4XTG-6L83].", "paragraph_id": "para_772" }, { "text": "28", "paragraph_id": "para_773" }, { "text": "In short, as Des Moines residents, Mandracchia and Amble could not", "paragraph_id": "para_774" }, { "text": "(1) burn their trash, (2) hoard their trash, (3) dispose of their trash somewhere", "paragraph_id": "para_775" }, { "text": "within the city, (4) dump their trash into water or land owned by the state, or", "paragraph_id": "para_776" }, { "text": "(5) throw it in someone else’s trash bin. Short of burying it on their property (not", "paragraph_id": "para_777" }, { "text": "an option for many) or taking it to the landfill themselves (subjecting them to a", "paragraph_id": "para_778" }, { "text": "search of their vehicle), people in Des Moines effectively have one option for their", "paragraph_id": "para_779" }, { "text": "trash: placing it out for municipal collection.", "paragraph_id": "para_780" }, { "text": "Although not an abandonment case, Carpenter v. United States illustrates", "paragraph_id": "para_781" }, { "text": "how our search-and-seizure protections operate when a person lacks a", "paragraph_id": "para_782" }, { "text": "meaningful choice in disclosing information. 585 U.S. 296 (2018). In Carpenter,", "paragraph_id": "para_783" }, { "text": "prosecutors sought the cellphone records of several suspects in a string of", "paragraph_id": "para_784" }, { "text": "robberies. Id. at 301–02. The prosecutors applied for court orders under the", "paragraph_id": "para_785" }, { "text": "Stored Communications Act, which allows the government to compel a cellphone", "paragraph_id": "para_786" }, { "text": "company to release someone’s cellphone records if the government provides a", "paragraph_id": "para_787" }, { "text": "reasonable basis to believe that the records are relevant to an ongoing criminal", "paragraph_id": "para_788" }, { "text": "investigation. Id. (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 2703(d)). A magistrate issued the", "paragraph_id": "para_789" }, { "text": "requested order under the Act, forcing Carpenter’s cellphone provider to turn", "paragraph_id": "para_790" }, { "text": "over the location information tied to his cellphone use during the period that", "paragraph_id": "para_791" }, { "text": "aligned with the robberies. Id. at 302.", "paragraph_id": "para_792" }, { "text": "The United States Supreme Court held that the location information", "paragraph_id": "para_793" }, { "text": "obtained from the wireless carriers was the product of a search under the Fourth", "paragraph_id": "para_794" }, { "text": "Amendment. Id. at 315–16. The holding rested, in part, on the fact that although", "paragraph_id": "para_795" }, { "text": "the decision to carry a cellphone permits a wireless carrier to record almost", "paragraph_id": "para_796" }, { "text": "constant GPS tracking data for a user, the user does not voluntarily disclose his", "paragraph_id": "para_797" }, { "text": "location by carrying a cellphone. Id. at 315. After noting how “pervasive and", "paragraph_id": "para_798" }, { "text": "insistent” cellphones are in contemporary life, the Court noted that “[a]part from", "paragraph_id": "para_799" }, { "text": "29", "paragraph_id": "para_800" }, { "text": "disconnecting the phone from the network, there is no way to avoid leaving", "paragraph_id": "para_801" }, { "text": "behind a trail of location data.” Id. (quoting Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373, 385", "paragraph_id": "para_802" }, { "text": "(2014)). The Court concluded that “in no meaningful sense does the user", "paragraph_id": "para_803" }, { "text": "voluntarily ‘assume[] the risk’ of turning over a comprehensive dossier of his", "paragraph_id": "para_804" }, { "text": "physical movements.” Id. (alteration in original) (emphasis added) (quoting Smith", "paragraph_id": "para_805" }, { "text": "v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 745 (1979)).", "paragraph_id": "para_806" }, { "text": "In the same way, Mandracchia and Amble’s choice to set out their trash", "paragraph_id": "para_807" }, { "text": "for collection is hardly voluntary. Burying their trash (if they could) or driving it", "paragraph_id": "para_808" }, { "text": "to the landfill themselves (subjecting their vehicle to a search) is even more", "paragraph_id": "para_809" }, { "text": "arduous and impractical than, as Carpenter discusses, turning off one’s", "paragraph_id": "para_810" }, { "text": "cellphone. Id. Even shredding it doesn’t guarantee that the government won’t be", "paragraph_id": "para_811" }, { "text": "able to piece it back together. See, e.g., United States v. Scott, 975 F.2d 927, 928,", "paragraph_id": "para_812" }, { "text": "930 (1st Cir. 1992) (holding that IRS agents reconstructing shredded documents", "paragraph_id": "para_813" }, { "text": "they found in the defendant’s trash did not violate the Fourth Amendment). It", "paragraph_id": "para_814" }, { "text": "goes against reason, in any event, to suggest that the only way to maintain basic", "paragraph_id": "para_815" }, { "text": "privacy in our trash is to become a state of trash hoarders, burners, or shredders.", "paragraph_id": "para_816" }, { "text": "When residents set out their trash, the situation is more akin to a", "paragraph_id": "para_817" }, { "text": "conveyance than an abandonment because there is one intended recipient for", "paragraph_id": "para_818" }, { "text": "the trash: the trash collector. At a minimum, people maintain ownership over", "paragraph_id": "para_819" }, { "text": "the trash until the intended recipient (the trash collector) claims it.", "paragraph_id": "para_820" }, { "text": "Abandonment generally involves not just voluntary relinquishment but a gap in", "paragraph_id": "para_821" }, { "text": "ownership. “[A]bandoned property becomes, in theory, a res nullius, a thing", "paragraph_id": "para_822" }, { "text": "owned by no one.” Peñalver, 109 Mich. L. Rev. at 196. A conveyance, on the other", "paragraph_id": "para_823" }, { "text": "hand, involves the conveyor’s “ability to direct the property toward a particular", "paragraph_id": "para_824" }, { "text": "person or group of people.” Id. at 198. When someone provides their property to", "paragraph_id": "para_825" }, { "text": "a repair person, for instance, the owner of the property does not necessarily lose", "paragraph_id": "para_826" }, { "text": "30", "paragraph_id": "para_827" }, { "text": "their privacy interest in it. See Commonwealth v. Shaffer, 209 A.3d 957, 976–77", "paragraph_id": "para_828" }, { "text": "(Pa. 2019) (describing how a person’s privacy interest in their computer was not", "paragraph_id": "para_829" }, { "text": "abandoned when they gave it to a computer repair shop). The key difference is", "paragraph_id": "para_830" }, { "text": "that “[t]he intent required for abandonment is the intent to sever one’s ties of", "paragraph_id": "para_831" }, { "text": "ownership, not an intent to convey the property to a particular person.” Peñalver,", "paragraph_id": "para_832" }, { "text": "109 Mich. L. Rev. at 197.", "paragraph_id": "para_833" }, { "text": "III. Conclusion.", "paragraph_id": "para_834" }, { "text": "Because I reject the notion that the new statute requires a finding of", "paragraph_id": "para_835" }, { "text": "abandonment, and because I do not otherwise find abandonment under our", "paragraph_id": "para_836" }, { "text": "ordinary abandonment principles, I would hold that the defendants had a", "paragraph_id": "para_837" }, { "text": "reasonable expectation of privacy in their trash. 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