2018 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

           Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Webster County, Thomas J. Bice, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Danilson, C.J., and Mullins and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by Mullins, J. (20 pages)

           Sessions Harper appeals the denial of his application for postconviction relief (PCR).  In addition to his various pro se claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, he contends the district court erred in concluding his trial counsel did not render ineffective assistance of counsel in failing to object to an allegedly improper jury instruction on the crime of first-degree kidnapping and abused its discretion in declining to admit certain evidence in the PCR trial.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the denial of Harper’s PCR application. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Story County, Timothy J. Finn, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and Mullins, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (7 pages)

            Trisha Goldensoph appeals following her convictions of one count of delivery of methamphetamine and one count of possession of methamphetamine, challenging (1) the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury’s findings of guilt and (2) the district court’s denial of her motion for new trial premised on an allegation that “three jurors” were “sleeping” during trial.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the jury findings of guilt for delivery of methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine, and we affirm the court’s denial of the motion for new trial.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Muscatine County, Thomas G. Reidel, Judge.  AFFIRMED IN PART AND REVERSED IN PART.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Potterfield and Tabor, JJ.  Per Curiam.  Separate Writing by Potterfield, J.  Partial Dissent by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (8 pages)

            Dennis Workman appeals, contending the district court should not have enforced the “no-contest” provision because he acted with probable cause and in good faith in filing his will-contest action.  OPINION HOLDS: While we affirm the revocation of Dennis’ interest, we reverse as to Dennis' son.  SEPARATE WRITING STATES: I agree with the majority that Dennis’s interest in his father’s will should be revoked, as he failed to establish good faith and probable cause for filing the will-contest action relating to his father’s will; I write separately to explain why I take a different position on this issue in this action than I did in In re Estate of Workman, No. 16-0908, 2017 WL 706342, at *7 (Iowa Ct. App. Feb. 22, 2017).  DISSENT ASSERTS: I concur in affirmance of the revocation of Dennis’ shares and interest in LaVerne’s estate but I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion that Dennis’ minor son is entitled to receive his bequest.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Story County, Michael J. Moon, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and Mullins, JJ.  Opinion by Doyle, J.  (4 pages)

            Akuk Akok appeals his convictions for first-degree burglary, assault while participating in a felony, and child stealing.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the State made a sufficient prima facie case concerning the authenticity of Akok’s Facebook messages, the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the messages into evidence.  We preserve Akok’s ineffective-assistance claim to allow full development of the record during postconviction proceedings. 

           Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Delaware County, Monica Wittig, Judge.  AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.  Considered by Danilson, C.J., Mullins, J., and Mahan, S.J.  Opinion by Danilson, C.J. (20 pages)

            Jacquelyn (Jacque) Demmer appeals from the custody, support, and property distribution provisions of the decree dissolving her marriage to Joshua (Josh) Demmer.  Jacque contends the trial court erred in granting sole legal custody and physical care of the parties’ three children to Josh, asserts the court improperly placed restrictions on visitation with her parents, erred in not awarding her spousal support, failed to divide the marital property equitably, erred in awarding Josh with the tax dependency exemptions, and improperly calculated child support.  OPINION HOLDS: I. Because the parties agreed to joint legal custody, the trial court should not have granted sole legal custody to Josh.  II. We find no reason to disturb the placement of the children in Josh’s physical care.  III. Josh did not seek any restriction or supervision of Jacque’s parenting time and the trial court gave no reviewable reason for restricting the maternal grandparents’ access to the children.  We strike these restrictions from the decree.  IV. We find no failure to do equity in the district court’s distribution of marital assets and debts and its refusal to award spousal support.  V. The trial court properly awarded the tax exemptions to Josh, but providing that should Jacque have sufficient annual income to benefit from the tax exemptions, she would be entitled to use the second of the three children as an exemption.  VI. We affirm the child-support calculation. VII. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying Jacque trial attorney fees.  VIII. We award no appellate attorney fees.  IX. Costs are taxed one-quarter to Josh and three-quarters to Jacque.

           Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Pottawattamie County, Mark J. Eveloff, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Danilson, C.J., and Mullins and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by Danilson, C.J. (13 pages)

           David Maddox appeals from the denial of his application for postconviction relief, asserting his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance and his appellate counsel was ineffective in failing to raise trial counsel’s ineffectiveness on Maddox’s first appeal.  OPINION HOLDS: Because we conclude Maddox has not established trial or appellate counsel rendered ineffective assistance, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Lee County, Ty Rogers, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., Doyle, J., and Scott, S.J.  Opinion by Scott, S.J.  (10 pages)

            Ethen Ayers appeals his conviction of assault on a correctional officer causing bodily injury.  He contends (1) his trial counsel was ineffective in failing to object to several instances of alleged prosecutorial misconduct and (2) the district court erred in declining to instruct the jury on a justification defense.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude trial counsel was not ineffective as alleged and the district court appropriately declined to instruct the jury on a justification defense.  We affirm Ayers’s conviction of assault on a correctional officer causing bodily injury.

           Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Buchanan County, Stephanie C. Rattenborg, District Associate Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Potterfield and Tabor, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, J. (8 pages)

           Alliance Pipeline, L.P., appeals the district court’s dismissal of its small claims appeal as untimely because its original electronic submission prior to the deadline mistakenly designated a brief as a second notice of appeal.  OPINION HOLDS: We find resubmission of the notice of appeal relates back to the original submission one day earlier for the purposes of meeting the appellate deadline.  Accordingly, we reverse the dismissal and remand for further proceedings on the merits.

           Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Buchanan County, Stephanie C. Rattenborg, District Associate Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Potterfield and Tabor, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, J. (4 pages)

            Alliance Pipeline, L.P., appeals the district court’s dismissal of its small claims appeal as untimely because its original electronic submission prior to the deadline mistakenly designated a brief as a second notice of appeal.  OPINION HOLDS: We find resubmission of the notice of appeal relates back to the original submission one day earlier for the purposes of meeting the appellate deadline.  Accordingly, we reverse the dismissal and remand for further proceedings on the merits.

           Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Jeffrey L. Poulson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Danilson, C.J., and Vogel and Tabor, JJ.  Opinion by Danilson, C.J. (7 pages)

           Rogelio Morales was convicted of second-degree murder and now appeals from the denial of his motion to suppress statements he made to police officers.  OPINION HOLDS: Under the totality of the circumstances, we agree with the district court that Morales’s nods and subsequent action in answering questions were sufficient to indicate a knowing and voluntary waiver of his Miranda rights. 

           Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Warren County, John D. Lloyd, Judge.  AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.  Considered by Danilson, C.J., and Mullins and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by Mullins, J.  (28 pages)

           Victoria Archer appeals the court’s modification of a dissolution decree placing her three minor children in the physical care of their father, Bruce Archer.  She contends the court erred in: (1) denying her multiple requests for continuances due to her health; (2) allowing the guardian ad litem (GAL) to testify and admitting the GAL’s written report into evidence; (3) precluding her from presenting evidence at trial which then led to the erroneous conclusion that Bruce met his burden of proof to modify custody; (4) relying  on facts which predated the prior modification decree; (5) concluding Bruce could provide superior care; and (6) placing onerous conditions on her parenting time in the modified custody decree.  Bruce requests an award of appellate attorney fees.  OPINION HOLDS: We find the court did not abuse its discretion in denying Victoria’s motions for continuances.  We conclude the court erred in admitting the GAL’s report into evidence so we do not consider it in our de novo review.  We affirm Bruce’s request to modify physical care of the three minor children, but modify the visitation schedule to allow Victoria visitation when she is in Iowa.  We find no abuse of discretion and affirm the court’s award of trial attorney fees to Bruce.  We do not award appellate attorney fees to Bruce.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, David F. Staudt, Judge.  affirmed.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Potterfield and Tabor, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (11 pages)

            Lance Brooks appeals the denial of his postconviction-relief application, raising claims of error by the postconviction court and alleging ineffective assistance of counsel.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the postconviction court’s denial of Brooks’ postconviction-relief application.