State of Iowa v. Alan James Kuuttila, 965 N.W.2d 484

Story County deputy received tips that Alan Kuuttila was dealing marijuana and meth and conducted warrantless "trash pulls" at the four-plex where Kuuttila lived.
Four metal, lidded trash cans in a fenced enclosure served all four units; bags had no identifying marks.
First trash pull yielded nothing; a second pull produced a bag with mail addressed to Kuuttila and baggies containing methamphetamine and marijuana residue.
Deputy used the trash evidence to obtain a search warrant; a warrant search of Kuuttila’s apartment recovered controlled substances and he admitted ownership.
Kuuttila was charged with misdemeanor possession offenses, moved to suppress the trash evidence, and was convicted; district court denied suppression under existing precedent and the court of appeals affirmed.
After briefing, this court (in light of State v. Wright) exercised its discretion to address only the state-constitutional trash issue and the restitution claim, conditionally affirmed, and remanded for a suppression hearing excluding evidence from the trash pull.

Issue	State's Argument	Kuuttila's Argument	Held
Whether a warrantless seizure and search of trash left for collection violates article I, § 8 of the Iowa Constitution	Under Greenwood/Henderson, no protected expectation of privacy in discarded trash; warrantless trash pulls are permissible	Warrantless trash pull was an unreasonable seizure/search under the Iowa Constitution; suppression required	Court applied Wright and held the garbage seizure/search was unreasonable under article I, § 8; remanded for suppression hearing excluding trash-derived evidence
Effect of the new Wright rule on this pending appeal	Evidence supporting the warrant may still sustain conviction; no special treatment argued	Requested suppression and relief based on state-constitutional protection	Court conditionally affirmed convictions but remanded for district court to apply Wright and hold a new suppression hearing; further proceedings contingent on that ruling
Validity of restitution and assessment of court costs/attorney fees without an ability-to-pay finding	State agreed to pay costs for dismissed charge; otherwise sought assessment of costs	Challenged assessment of attorney fees/costs and lack of ability-to-pay determination	Supreme Court addressed restitution claim on review: remanded/vacated for further proceedings; directed defendant to exhaust statutory remedies if convictions stand

California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35 (1988) (Fourth Amendment line of cases holding no reasonable expectation of privacy in trash under federal Constitution)
State v. Wright, 961 N.W.2d 396 (Iowa 2021) (Iowa Constitution protects trash from warrantless, trespassory seizure and search; established new state rule)
State v. Henderson, 435 N.W.2d 394 (Iowa Ct. App. 1988) (prior Iowa appellate precedent allowing warrantless trash searches; overruled by Wright)
State v. Hahn, 961 N.W.2d 370 (Iowa 2021) (remand principle when a new rule is announced while cases are pending)
United States v. Vahalik, 606 F.2d 99 (5th Cir. 1979) (representative federal authority, cited in dissent, upholding warrantless garbage searches)