10/27/92 Larry J. Zissi V. State Tax Commission

Petitioner Larry J. Zissi seeks a writ of review of a decision of the State Tax Commission. The Commission assessed $44,000 in penalties and taxes against Zissi, finding that he had failed to pay the taxes that Utah's Illegal Drug Stamp Tax Act ("the Stamp Act") imposes on the purchase, acquisition, transportation, or importation of controlled substances. See Utah Code Ann. §§ 59-19-101 to -107. Before this court, Zissi challenges the Commission's fact-finding and its construction of the Stamp Act, the constitutionality of the Stamp Act, and the constitutionality of the roadblock at which sheriff's deputies found the controlled substances giving rise to the taxes and penalties. Zissi argues that because the roadblock stop amounted to an unconstitutional seizure, the exclusionary rule should have prevented the Commission from admitting in evidence the approximately 550 amphetamine tablets the deputies had seized from his truck.