State v. Ramirez

Iowa’s search warrants do not authorize anticipatory warrants, but where the federal government conducts a search pursuant to a valid federal search warrant for purposes of a federal investigation, the fact that such a warrant would not have been statutorily authorized in Iowa does not require the results of the search to be suppressed in Iowa courts.As a package containing methamphetamine entered this country from Mexico, federal agents intercepted the package and then made a controlled delivery of the package to its intended recipient in Iowa. The agents obtained from a federal magistrate judge a federal anticipatory search warrant authorizing a search to be conducted once the package reached its intended recipient. After a controlled delivery, the recipient of the package was detained, and federal agents searched his residents. The federal government turned the case over to Iowa for prosecution, and the recipient of the package (Defendant) was convicted of possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver and drug stamp violations. The Supreme Court affirmed the convictions, holding that the trial court’s admission of the results of the search accorded a proper recognition to the bona fide actions of the federal government pursuant to that government’s lawful authority. View "State v. Ramirez" on Justia Law