2019 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Rachael E. Seymour, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and Bower, JJ.  Opinion by Doyle, J.  (5 pages)

            A father appeals the termination of his parental rights to his children.  OPINION HOLDS: Clear and convincing evidence shows terminating the father’s parental rights is in the children’s best interests.  As a result, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Pottawattamie County, Scott Strait, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED ON BOTH APPEALS.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and May, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  (7 pages)

            A mother and father separately appeal the termination of their parental rights to two children.  The mother challenges the statutory ground for termination, but the father concedes the State proved the grounds as to him.  He argues it was not in the children’s best interests to terminate his rights.  Finally, he contends the court should have given him more time to reunify with the children.  OPINION HOLDS: On de novo review, we conclude the State proved the statutory ground for terminating the mother’s rights.  The State also showed it was in the children’s best interests to terminate the father’s rights.  Finally, there were no grounds to support granting the father additional time.  We affirm. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Lynn Poschner, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and Bower, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (4 pages)

            A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to a child, born in 2018.  She contends the State failed to prove the grounds for termination cited by the district court, termination is not in the child’s best interests, and the court should have granted her six additional months to work toward reunification with the child.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the termination of the mother’s parental rights to the child.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Eliza J. Ovrom, Judge.  AFFIRMED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., Mullins J., and Vogel, S.J.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (3 pages)

            Marvin Campos appeals the district court’s denial of his petition to modify the parties’ dissolution decree.  We must decide whether the district court erred in concluding Campos’ petition amounted to an impermissible collateral attack on prior orders.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the dismissal of the petition to modify the decree.  Leah Okrzynski is entitled to have Campos pay her appellate attorney fees; we remand for a hearing to determine the amount.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Nicholas L. Scott, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and May, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, J.  (5 pages)

            The defendant appeals his convictions for assault causing bodily injury, arguing photographs of the alleged injuries to a victim who did not testify violated the Confrontation Clause.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the photographs are not testimonial statements, there is no Confrontation Clause violation.  The district court did not err in overruling the objection.   

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Muscatine County, Joel W. Barrows, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., Bower, J., and Vogel, S.J.  Opinion by Bower, J.  (8 pages)

            Leon Juan Zacarias appeals the dismissal of his application for postconviction relief.  He claims the district court erred in its credibility determination and his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance.  OPINION HOLDS: We find the district court did not abuse its discretion in its credibility findings and Zacarias did not establish by a preponderance of evidence that trial counsel breached a duty to him.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cerro Gordo County, Colleen D. Weiland, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., Doyle, J., and Vogel, S.J.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (5 pages)

            Justin McMillian appeals the district court’s denial of his petition to modify the parties’ dissolution decree to order physical care of the parties’ child with him.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude the district court acted equitably in denying Justin’s petition to modify the physical care provision of the dissolution decree.  We affirm the court’s decision.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Kevin McKeever, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Doyle and Tabor, JJ.  Opinion by Potterfield, P.J.  (10 pages)

            Sycamore, L.L.C. and Lake Calvin Properties, L.L.C. appeal the district court’s ruling annulling their writ of certiorari challenging the City Council of Iowa City’s denial of their application to rezone 42.01 acres of property.  On appeal, the landowners maintain the district court erred in concluding (1) the City Council did not incorrectly apply the law in denying their application for rezoning and (2) the Council’s decision is supported by substantial evidence in the record.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the Council did not incorrectly apply the law and substantial evidence supports its decision to deny the landowners’ application for rezoning, we affirm the district court’s annulling of the landowners’ writ of certiorari. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Mark R. Lawson, Judge.  AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Potterfield and Doyle, JJ.  Opinion by Potterfield, J.  (9 pages)

            Chad Miller appeals the district court decision affirming the ruling of the Iowa Property Assessment Appeal Board (PAAB) that his property should be classified as residential, rather than agricultural.  The PAAB cross-appeals the court’s determination the issue of inequitable assessment of Miller’s property should be remanded to the PAAB.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the district court and the PAAB on the issue of the classification of Miller’s property as agricultural.  We reverse the district court’s decision on the issue of inequitable assessment.  We remand for an order affirming the PAAB’s decision on inequitable assessment.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Marion County, Dustria A. Relph, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., Bower, J., and Vogel, S.J.  Opinion by Bower, J.  (2 pages)

            David Ray Hawkins appeals from the summary dismissal of his application for postconviction relief (PCR).  He raises a claim of ineffective assistance of PCR counsel.  OPINION HOLDS: The ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim must be asserted in a separate PCR application. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Lucas County, Dustria A. Relph, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., Tabor, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Carr, S.J.  (6 pages)

            Jay Todd Jensen appeals from the decree of dissolution of his marriage to Kimberly Marie Jensen.  He argues the court should not have considered his disability and special pay from his military service when awarding Kimberly’s retirement accounts entirely to her.  OPINION HOLDS: We find that awarding each party their respective retirement accounts is equitable, and we affirm the district court.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Arthur E. Gamble, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., Bower, J., and Vogel, S.J.  Gamble, S.J., takes no part.  Opinion by Bower, J.  (7 pages)

            Bobby Joe Morris appeals from the dismissal of his application for postconviction relief (PCR) in which he challenges his 1998 conviction for first-degree murder.  OPINION HOLDS: All of Morris’s claims of ineffective assistance of trial, appellate, and first PCR counsel are time barred.  With respect to his cruel-and-unusual-punishment claim, Morris grounds the claim on due process, arguing, “The due process violation as to Morris results in his cruel and unusual punishment under Article I, section 17 of the Iowa Constitution . . . and the Eighth Amendment.”  We find no error in the PCR court’s rejection of his claim of an illegal sentence.