Drug charges dropped; judge rules car search not valid

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com 

Drug charges against a Charles City woman have been dismissed after a judge ruled the police did not have probable cause to search a vehicle she was driving.

Calsey Cae North, age 32, was stopped by a Floyd County sheriff’s deputy on Aug. 25, 2016, and during a search of her vehicle the deputy allegedly found a plastic baggy that contained a large crystal chunk, a digital scale and a ledger of names and amounts paid. The substance later tested positive for methamphetamine, court records say.

The deputy also allegedly found a plastic baggy that contained a leafy green substance that later tested positive for marijuana.

North was charged with possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, a Class C felony, and second offense possession of marijuana, an aggravated misdemeanor.

North’s attorney, Joseph Lapointe of Mason City, filed a motion to suppress the items found in the search, arguing that officers did not have probable cause to stop North and search her vehicle. The county attorney’s office resisted the motion, and a hearing was held Dec. 4, 2017.

District Court Judge Chris Foy filed his ruling on the case last Thursday.

In his ruling, Foy wrote that Deputy Cody Van Horn stopped a vehicle being driven by North because it had been seen at a residence in Charles City that “was known to law enforcement for drug-related activity.”

“However, no officer had directly observed Defendant engaging in any illegal or criminal conduct that day,” Foy wrote.

“At the hearing, Deputy Van Horn acknowledged that the State did not have probable cause to support the initial stop of Defendant or the later search of her vehicle. Instead, the State now asserts that Deputy Van Horn had consent to search the vehicle from its owner, Rochester Toyota,” Foy wrote.

North was leasing the vehicle, a 2016 Toyota Rav4, from a Rochester, Minnesota, dealer. There was a question of whether North was current on her lease payments, and the dealer gave the sheriff’s office permission to search the vehicle, Foy wrote.

Nevertheless, Foy wrote, the dealership had taken no steps to repossess the vehicle and the lease agreement was still in effect, so North was in legal possession of the vehicle.

“When she was asked, Defendant refused to give the officer consent to search,” Foy wrote. “The Court finds that the ‘consent’ given by the dealership was invalid and gave Deputy Van Horn no constitutional authority to stop or search the vehicle.”

Foy ruled that any evidence collected during the search had to be excluded from the trial, as well as any statements made by North or by a passenger in the vehicle after North was stopped by the deputy.

Assistant County Attorney Randall Tilton filed a motion last Friday asking the court to dismiss the case because there was “no longer admissible evidence to justify prosecution and conviction.”

Foy dismissed the charges later that day.