Preview:

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 8-877 / 08-0146 Filed December 31, 2008 STATE OF IOWA, Plaintiff-Appellee, vs. NATHANIEL JAMES MELTON, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________________________________________________ Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Casey D. Jones (motion to suppress) and Angeline M. Wilson (trial), District Associate Judges.

Nathaniel James Melton appeals his conviction, following a stipulated trial to the court, for possession of marijuana. AFFIRMED.

Mark C. Smith, State Appellate Defender, and E. Frank Rivera, Assistant State Appellate Defender, for appellant. Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Kevin Cmelik, Assistant Attorney General, Harold Denton, County Attorney, and Jason Beslar, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.

Considered by Vogel, P.J., and Mahan and Miller, JJ.

2 MILLER, J. Nathaniel James Melton appeals his conviction, following a stipulated trial to the court, for possession of marijuana.1 He contends the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress. We affirm. At 1:23 a.m. on May 13, 2007, Marion Police Sergeant Robert Elam was dispatched to an address on Vasey Avenue in Marion based on reports of a loud party. The residence has been the subject of similar previous reports, and Elam himself had been there on at least two previous occasions based on complaints of loud parties and underage drinking. When Sergeant Elam went to the door and knocked he heard someone inside alert others to the presence of "cops" and heard a window opening. Another officer at the scene was alerted, went around the back of the house, and apprehended one person in the backyard attempting to leave the party undetected. Upon discovery of people running from the party, Elam radioed other officers in the area to be on the lookout for persons fleeing the party and gave the direction of the fleeing individuals. Officer Jason Schamberger received the radioed information from Elam while at the station and headed toward the area of the party. Schamberger saw one person walking on the sidewalk approximately one and one-half blocks from the address where the party had been reported.
1

The individual was later

Melton was also convicted of public intoxication. He states in his appellate brief that he is appealing from "the final judgment and sentence" and "every adverse order, decision, and ruling." However, public intoxication is a simple misdemeanor and thus not subject to direct appeal. See Iowa Code

Download STATE OF IOWA, Plaintiff - Appellee, vs. NATHANIEL JAMES MELTON, Defendant -

Iowa Law