Court of Appeals Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Bradley J. Harris, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Schumacher, J., and Vogel and Doyle, S.J.J.  Opinion by Vogel, S.J.  (5 pages)

            David Willock appeals the denial of his second petition for postconviction relief.  OPINION HOLDS: We reject Willock’s claims as untimely and find no structural error in his counsel’s representation.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Des Moines County, Mark E. Kruse, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., May, J., and Potterfield, S.J.  Opinion by Potterfield, S.J.  (9 pages)

            Markell Price appeals from his convictions of second-degree murder and third-degree robbery.  Price challenges (1) the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions, (2) the district court’s evidentiary ruling excluding a 911 call in which another person made incriminating statements about the murder, and (3) the court’s denial of his Batson challenge when the State used a peremptory strike on a Black potential juror.  OPINION HOLDS: Price failed to preserve error on either his sufficiency-of-the-evidence claims or his evidentiary challenge, so we do not reach the merits of those issues.  On de novo review, we affirm the district court’s denial of Price’s Batson challenge.  We affirm both of Price’s convictions.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Mahaska County, John G. Linn, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by May, P.J., Greer, J., and Vogel, S.J.  Opinion by Vogel, S.J.  (5 pages)

            Ricky Joe Blodgett appeals the denial of his application for postconviction relief.  OPINION HOLDS: Because Blodgett’s entire application is barred by the statute of limitations, we affirm the denial of his application.  We do not reach his additional pro se claims.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeffrey D. Farrell, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (13 pages)

            Alf Freddie Clark appeals his convictions for first-degree murder, attempted murder, and felon in possession of a firearm.  OPINION HOLDS: Clark fails to establish a violation of his due process rights based on prosecutorial misconduct or a violation of his right to confrontation based on admission of the deposition of a witness who was unavailable at trial.  We affirm Clark’s convictions.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Boone County, Stephen A. Owen, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., Greer, J., and Blane, S.J.  Opinion by Blane, S.J.  (6 pages)

            Michael Shawn Heck appeals his conviction of assault causing bodily injury.  He contends substantial evidence does not support the conviction and his attorney was ineffective in failing to object to a jury instruction.  OPINION HOLDS: We find substantial evidence supports the verdict.  We are without authority to hear the ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim in this direct appeal.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Mary E. Howes, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Greer and Badding, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  (5 pages)

            Christopher McAfee was convicted of invasion of privacy and assault.  He was required to register as a sex offender.  In his application for postconviction relief, McAfee argues trial counsel was ineffective for failing to notify him about the registration requirement.  OPINION HOLDS: McAfee did not show that his counsel performed deficiently.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Henry County, John M. Wright, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., Greer and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J.  Special Concurrence by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (11 pages)

            Robert Sinn appeals the denial of postconviction relief following a conviction of sexual abuse in the third degree.  He maintains his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance of counsel by not moving for suppression based on lack of Miranda warnings.  OPINION HOLDS: Sinn was not entitled to Miranda warnings in his conversations with officers before arrest because he was not in custody at the time, and so a suppression challenge would have been meritless.  Counsel did not breach an essential duty.  We affirm the district court’s dismissal of Sinn’s claim for postconviction relief.  SPECIAL CONCURRENCE ASSERTS: An assistant police chief testified a deputy told him Sinn “was a suspect of his” and “to stay with [Sinn] until he got there.”  The police chief’s testimony supports a determination that Sinn was in custody.  But even if counsel had a duty to file a suppression motion, I would find an absence of Strickland prejudice.  Accordingly, I too, would affirm the denial of Sinn’s postconviction-relief application.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Appanoose County, Gregory G. Milani, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Heard by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, J.  (14 pages)

            Defendants appeal several rulings by the district court on summary judgment with regard to various claims of negligence brought by the Estate of Anthony J. Zdroik.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude there is a genuine issue of material fact as to the status of Brian Ostrowski and John Ostrowski within the limited liability company.  Because the district court resolved the co-employee issue based on election of coverage under Iowa Code section 85.1A and 86.61(11)(c)(5) (2018) rather than their employer status under 86.61(2), we reverse the denial of summary judgment and remand for reconsideration of the issue under section 85.61(2).  If the Ostrowskis are deemed to be co-employees, the court may examine whether one or more of the elements of gross negligence were satisfied as a matter of law.  We reverse the denial of summary judgment as to Steven Runstrom and Phil Gliniecki on the gross negligence claims and remand for entry of judgment of dismissal against them.  We reverse the denial of summary judgment as to Iowa Southern Railway Company on the negligence per se claim and remand for dismissal of the railroad.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Linda M. Fangman, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., and May and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (4 pages)

            Terrence Gordon appeals his conviction for failure to appear.  OPINION HOLDS: The marshalling instruction accurately stated the law.  We cannot overturn State v. Jackson, 488 N.W.2d 701 (Iowa 1992).  We are prohibited from considering Gordon’s ineffective-assistance claims on direct appeal by Iowa Code section 814.7 (2019).

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, David Nelmark, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED ON APPEAL; AFFIRMED ON CROSS-APPEAL.  Heard by Mullins, P.J., and May and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (15 pages)

            Capital Ideas, LLC and Michael Woody appeal a money judgment in favor of Springboard Advertising LLC and Christina Amys.  Springboard and Amys cross appeal.  OPINION HOLDS: 1. The district court erred in denying Capital Ideas and Woody’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict as to Springboard and Amys’s defamation per se claim.  2. The district court was correct to conclude Woody’s statement that Amys had “no ethics” was protected opinion.  3. The district court did not abuse its discretion by disallowing Springboard and Amys’s proposed amendments to their pleadings.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cass County, Jeffrey L. Larson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., May, J., and Doyle, S.J.  Opinion by May, J.  (2 pages)

            David Boggs appeals an order denying his motion to extinguish his restitution obligation.  OPNION HOLDS: We affirm without opinion.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Heather Lauber, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., Ahlers, J., and Scott, S.J.  Opinion by Scott, S.J.  (4 pages)

            Robert Johnston Jr. appeals the summary disposition of his application for postconviction relief (PCR) on statute-of-limitations grounds.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the denial of Johnston’s PCR application.