Johnston Police Case Tossed Out by Iowa Supreme Court

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that a Johnston police officer was not justified in stopping a car with license plate covers the officer said were tinted, so evidence collected leading to the driver's drunken driving conviction must be thrown out, according to an Associated Press report on Omaha.com.

In its ruling, the court reversed a Polk County judge and the Iowa Court of Appeals and ordered a new trial for Tommy Tyler Jr., and said none of the evidence gathered after the stop is admissible, the AP story said. That evidence includes the officer's observation that Tyler smelled of alcohol, his speech, and that a Breathalyzer test indicating a blood alcohol content of 0.147; the legal limit in Iowa is .08.

Johnston Police Chief Bill Vaughn said the department has no comment on the ruling at this time.

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Lowe said he stopped the Cadillac Escalade that Tyler was driving because it had tinted license plate covers that made it difficult to read the plate numbers. However, once the vehicle was stopped, he called in the plate numbers to a dispatcher.

The AP says the Supreme Court noted trial evidence indicated the plate covers were not tinted, and the justices questioned Lowe's assertion that he couldn't read them, as he had called them in.