by Attorney Eric D. PuryearOn June 22, 2013, just before midnight, Waterloo police responded to a 911 call. In the process of handling that call, they arrested a woman who had stood on her own front porch for public intoxication, after determining that the woman was drunk. The woman was convicted at a trial of public intoxication.
On appeal, the Iowa Supreme Court reversed the conviction, finding that the front steps and porch of a single family home are not a public place and as such a person cannot be guilty of public intoxication for drinking or being drunk on their single family home’s front porch or steps.
The Iowa Supreme Court’s full opinion can be seen here.