State of Iowa v. Theodore W. Buselmeier, 20-0370

Background

TIP hotline caller reported a hunter called “Ted from Minnesota” had asked for help removing an antlered buck after shotgun season ended and referenced a silver pickup with Minnesota plates in the area.
Conservation Officer Jacob Fulk and Trooper Daniels located a silver Minnesota-plated pickup and found Theodore Buselmeier alone in a creek wearing hunting gear; Fulk had a prior encounter showing Buselmeier held a nonresident antlerless tag.
While Fulk searched, he found a recently field-dressed buck with another hunter’s tag; upon return he observed what appeared to be blood on Buselmeier’s boots and pants; Buselmeier refused to talk and drove off when told he was not free to leave.
After pursuing and stopping Buselmeier, officers obtained a warrant and searched his truck, recovering marijuana concentrate, marijuana, and a glass pipe in a hip pack inside a backpack on the rear passenger seat.
Buselmeier moved to suppress the vehicle evidence (challenging the TIP-based stop and any extension of detention); the motion was denied, he was convicted of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, and he appealed raising suppression, admissibility/chain-of-custody, sufficiency, and jury-instruction claims.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Reasonable suspicion for investigative stop based on TIP	TIP was from a citizen who described interactions, location, vehicle; officers corroborated key details and Fulk knew defendant’s prior licensing info, supporting reasonable suspicion of illegal deer hunting	TIP insufficient under J.L.; anonymous/unreliable tip cannot justify stop	Tip was sufficiently reliable and corroborated; J.L. distinguished; reasonable suspicion existed
Whether the stop was impermissibly extended	Detention while Fulk searched for the buck was part of the stop’s mission and pursued diligently; facts that emerged increased suspicion	Initial contact facts (unarmed, on phone, no blood on hands) undermined suspicion and detention should have ended	Continued detention was reasonable and not an unlawful prolongation; mission ongoing and diligently pursued
Admissibility / chain-of-custody of drug evidence	State: defendant failed to preserve a chain-of-custody objection below	Defendant: State failed to account for continuous custody of vehicle and items, rendering lab results inadmissible	Error not preserved—defendant’s trial objection was general and did not raise chain-of-custody; admissibility challenge waived
Sufficiency of evidence and constructive-possession instruction	Evidence in vehicle while defendant was alone and lab results support knowledge/control; standard jury instruction sufficiently covered constructive possession	Items in backpack/hip pack not shown to be defendant’s; requested broader instruction on multi-occupant scenarios was needed	Substantial evidence supported guilt; refusal to give broader instruction proper because no evidence others occupied the vehicle

Key Cases Cited

Florida v. J.L., 529 U.S. 266 (2000) (anonymous tip without indicia of reliability insufficient for reasonable-suspicion stop)
Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325 (1990) (tip corroboration of predictive facts can supply reasonable suspicion)
Rodriguez v. United States, 575 U.S. 348 (2015) (duration of stop must be reasonably related to mission; officers must be diligent)
State v. Struve, 956 N.W.2d 90 (Iowa 2021) (Iowa standard: suspicion need not be infallible; officers need not rule out innocent explanations)
State v. Walshire, 634 N.W.2d 625 (Iowa 2001) (citizen informant information is generally presumed reliable; assess totality of circumstances)
State v. Bergmann, 633 N.W.2d 328 (Iowa 2001) (fruit-of-the-poisonous-tree bars evidence only when it flows from an earlier illegality)
State v. Don, 318 N.W.2d 810 (Iowa 1982) (general foundation objections do not preserve specific chain-of-custody challenges)