Westra v. Iowa Department of Transportation

The Supreme Court affirmed the district court's judgment upholding the revocation of a Driver's license, holding that this Court declines to overrule precedent and apply the exclusionary rule to driver's license revocation proceedings when an Iowa statute dictates otherwise.Driver in this case was pulled over by an officer with the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) after he made an unauthorized use of a median crossover to turn around and head in the other direction. Driver had an open container in his car and smelled of an alcoholic beverage, but Driver was never charged with operating while intoxicated (OWI). Adhering to precedent set in Westendorf v. Iowa Department of Transportation, 400 N.W.2d 553 (Iowa 1987), and Manders v. Iowa Department of Transportation, 454 N.W.2d 364 (Iowa 1990), in which the Court declined to apply the exclusionary rule to driver's license revocation proceedings so long as the enumerated statutory conditions for license revocation were met, the DOT upheld Driver's license suspension. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that where the only flaw in the stop was the officer's lack of statutory authority, this Court declines to expand the legislature's post-Westendorf statutory exception and apply the exclusionary rule to all driver's license revocation proceedings if there was any problem with the stop. View "Westra v. Iowa Department of Transportation" on Justia Law