According to police documents, Iowa City Police Street Crimes investigators were conducting a drug investigation on Johnson-Koulianos' roommate, 21-year-old Brady C. Johnson. Police served a search warrant at the residence they shared at 1128 E. Washington St. at 1:50 p.m. Inside, officers allegedly found marijuana, more than $3,000 cash, a digital scale and other items used in the sale of drugs.No, no, no, no, no!!! You can't do that. Not in Iowa.
Police said they found cocaine, small quantities of marijuana and Pamoate, Diazepam, Hydromorphone Hydrochloride and Zolpidem Tartrate pills in Johnson-Koulianos' bedroom.
You can't search Johnson-Koulianos's bedroom on the search warrant for his roommate. You have to get a second warrant for that!
Don't those cops in Iowa City pay attention to the Iowa Supreme Court? This is from the Sioux City Journal less than 4 weeks ago:
Police should have obtained a separate warrant to search a room a Sioux City man was renting in a home where drugs were found, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday.I predict that the charges against Johnson-Koulianos will be thrown out before the Insight Bowl.
The court overturned the drug possession conviction of Joshua Fleming, who was arrested after police found a small bag of marijuana in the closet of the bedroom he was renting in a house on Wright Avenue. The court said the marijuana found in Fleming's closet cannot be used as evidence and sent the case back to district court for further proceedings.
Fleming's attorney, Mark Smith, state appellate public defender, said the ruling affirms the law regarding illegal searches. He said it would be unlikely the case against Fleming would go forward.
“Without evidence it will be hard to convict him,” Smith said.
It is not the police officer's job to know and understand judicial precedent, it is the prosecuting attorney's job. As the prsecutor has to sign off on any warrant applications and is usually the one to take them to the judge for certification, the prosecutor should have made note of any recent case law and informed the officers serving the warrant of the limitations of the warrant. Also, when the prosecuting attorney learned that the letter of the warrant had been violated as such, he should have ordered the immediate release of the "suspect", rather than taking the young man in for a preliminary hearing!
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