2018 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Plymouth County, Jeffrey L. Poulson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Bower and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by McDonald, J.  (3 pages)

            Victor Villarreal challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions for unauthorized possession of an offensive weapon, two counts of trafficking in stolen weapons, and six counts of possession of a firearm by a felon.  OPINION HOLDS: There is sufficient evidence demonstrating Villarreal’s constructive possession of the firearms.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Poweshiek County, Myron L. Gookin, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Bower and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by Potterfield, P.J.  (10 pages)

            Charles Phipps appeals from his conviction for assault while displaying a dangerous weapon.  Phipps maintains (1) the trial court should have granted his motion for judgment of acquittal because assault while displaying a dangerous weapon is a specific-intent crime and the State did not provide substantial evidence regarding his specific intent, (2) trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to challenge the jury instruction that assault with a dangerous weapon is a general-intent crime, and (3) the court abused its discretion in denying his motion for mistrial after a witness’s testimony exceeded the minutes of evidence.  OPINION HOLDS: Because Phipps failed to object to the jury instructions, his sufficiency-of-the-evidence argument is at odds with the law of the case, and we decline to consider it.  His argument he received ineffective assistance from trial counsel fails, as he has not established the elements of ineffective assistance of counsel.  And we cannot say the district court abused its discretion when it denied Phipps’s motion for mistrial but struck from the record the testimony Phipps challenged as outside of the minutes and instructed the jury not to consider that testimony.  We affirm.

           Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Boone County, Timothy J. Finn, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Bower and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by Potterfield, P.J. (7 pages)

           Ronald Steenhoek appeals his conviction and sentence for theft in the second degree in violation of Iowa Code sections 714.1 and 714.2(2) (2017).  Steenhoek argues the district court erred by assessing financial obligations to him without first making a determination of his reasonable ability to pay and abused its discretion when it sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment.  OPINION HOLDS: Because no restitution order is yet in place, Steenhoek’s claim regarding his financial obligation and reasonable ability to pay is not yet ripe for our review, and we do not consider it.  The district court did not abuse its discretion when sentencing Steenhoek.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, David N. May (possession plea), Thomas W. Mott (driving-while-barred plea), and Eliza J. Ovrom (sentencing), Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and Mullins, JJ.  Opinion by Doyle, J.  (3 pages)

            Jack Carr appeals after pleading guilty to possession of methamphetamine and driving while barred.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the record is insufficient to determine Carr’s ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim on the merits, we affirm his convictions and preserve the issue of ineffective assistance of counsel for future postconviction-relief proceedings.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Pocahontas County, Kurt L. Wilke, Judge.  AFfirmed.  Heard by Vogel, P.J., Tabor, J., and Blane, S.J.  Opinion by Vogel, P.J. (9 pages)

            Amanda Reese asked the court to modify the physical-care and child-support provisions of the decree dissolving her marriage to Brian Olson.  Amanda’s petition alleged a substantial change in circumstances regarding the care and well-being of the children and a failure to communicate as changes since the entry of the decree.  OPINIONS HOLDS: Because we conclude Amanda failed to show a substantial change in circumstances since the original decree, we affirm the district court’s denial of the petition to modify physical care and child support.  We also affirm the district court’s failure to award Amanda attorney fees and decline to award her appellate attorney fees.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, David M. Porter, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Bower and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, J.  (5 pages)

            JLG Industries appeals the district court’s denial of a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.  OPINION HOLDS: An allegation of a company doing business in the state is insufficient to establish a company is “at home” for purposes of general jurisdiction. 

           Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeanie K. Vaudt, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Bower and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by Potterfield, P.J. (6 pages)

           Ashley Van Zetten appeals the district court’s dismissal of her petition for judicial review for failing to serve the Iowa Board of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences within the ten-day window required by Iowa Code section 17A.19(2) (2015).  OPINION HOLDS: Because Van Zetten substantially complied with the requirements of section 17A.19(2), the district court erred in granting the board’s motion to dismiss.  We reverse the district court’s ruling and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

           Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Emmet County, Nancy L. Whittenberg, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Danilson, C.J., and Vogel and Tabor, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, J.  (9 pages)

            Scott Herum appeals the district court’s denial of his motion for recusal and grant of his ex-wife’s application for distribution of support payments.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the district court judge properly declined to recuse herself and the distribution of support payments was not barred by res judicata or estoppel, we affirm. We assess appellate costs to Scott.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Grundy County, Joel A. Dalrymple, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Vogel, P.J., Tabor, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Carr, S.J. (7 pages)

            A father appeals the physical care determination of a decree of dissolution.  OPINION HOLDS: Both parents are suitable custodians for the child, but geographical distance prevents joint physical care.  We affirm the dissolution decree.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Russell G. Keast and Angeline M. Wilson, District Associate Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and Mullins, JJ.  Opinion by Doyle, J.  (4 pages)

            Shawn Lurkens appeals after pleading guilty to domestic abuse assault claiming his plea counsel was ineffective in allowing him to plead guilty because there was no factual basis for the plea.  OPINION HOLDS: Because there was a factual basis for the defendant’s guilty plea, we affirm the conviction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Odell G. McGhee II, District Associate Judge.  AFfirmed.  Considered by Danilson, C.J., and Vogel and Tabor, JJ.  Opinion by Vogel, J.  (7 pages)

            Cooper appeals his conviction and sentence after he entered into an Alford plea for fourth-degree theft.  First, Cooper claims that he received ineffective assistance of counsel because his counsel allowed him to enter into the Alford plea even though there was no factual basis for the plea.  Second, Cooper argues that the district court erred by accepting the plea due to the lack of factual basis.  OPINION HOLDS: There was factual basis to support the entering and acceptance of an Alford plea for fourth-degree theft, thus we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Brook K. Jacobsen, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and Mullins, JJ.  Opinion by Doyle, J.  (5 pages)

            The defendant appeals his conviction of theft in the third degree following a jury trial.  OPINION HOLDS: Because Jordan did not prove the outcome of trial would have been different had his counsel filed a motion to suppress evidence or objected to evidence of other bad acts, his ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims fail, and we affirm.