2019 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Jon Telleen and Mark J. Smith, Judges.  VACATED IN PART AND REMANDED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Bower, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, J.  (7 pages)

            Kamesha Houston appeals her conviction and sentence for possession of marijuana and carrying weapons.  OPINION HOLDS: We find the court applied her guilty plea to the wrong carrying-weapons count and vacate that conviction.  We remand for further proceedings.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Hancock County, Gregg R. Rosenbladt, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., Doyle, J., and Danilson, S.J.  Opinion by Potterfield, P.J.  (6 pages)

            Shane Jacobs appeals from his sentences for willful injury causing bodily injury and domestic abuse assault by impeding airflow—both class “D” felonies.  He maintains the sentencing court abused its discretion by placing more weight on negative factors and failing to consider properly the mitigating factors.  OPINION HOLDS: Jacobs has not established the sentencing court considered an inappropriate factor.  And although the court did not give the same weight to the factors that Jacobs emphasizes, the sentence imposed by the court was not based on grounds or for reasons clearly untenable, nor was its choice clearly unreasonable under the circumstances.  Thus, we affirm the sentence imposed by the district court.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Joel W. Barrows, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., Doyle, J., and Mahan, S.J.  Opinion by Doyle, J.  (3 pages)

            Jerrel Williams appeals his conviction for possession with intent to deliver crack cocaine.  OPINION HOLDS: Substantial circumstantial evidence supports a finding that Williams had been in possession of the crack cocaine discovered on the floor of an apartment next to where Williams had been sitting.  Because sufficient evidence supports his conviction, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Floyd County, Christopher C. Foy, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., Doyle, J., and Danilson, S.J.  Opinion by Potterfield, P.J.  (25 pages)

            Donald McIntyre appeals his conviction for robbery in the first degree.  He maintains (1) trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to object to hearsay statements, to the admission of shoeprint evidence, to instances of prosecutorial misconduct, and to the definition of “armed” in a jury instruction; (2) the court erred in including language pertaining to a knife in the dangerous-weapon instruction; and (3) the trial court should have granted his motions for judgment of acquittal and for new trial based on the weight of the evidence.  OPINION HOLDS: McIntyre did not establish his claims for ineffective assistance, that there was insufficient evidence to instruct the jury the knife recovered at the scene meets the legal definition of a dangerous weapon, nor that the verdict is contrary to the weight of the evidence.  Thus, we affirm.  We preserve for postconviction relief his claims trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to instances of hearsay testimony and the definition of “armed” within a jury instruction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Chad A. Kepros, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., Doyle, J., and Danilson, S.J.  Opinion by Potterfield, P.J.  (4 pages)

            Douglas Smith asserts his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by allowing Smith to plead guilty to operating while intoxicated, third or subsequent offense, without a factual basis to support the plea.  OPINION HOLDS: The evidence in the record establishes a factual basis to support Smith’s guilty plea for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, third or subsequent offense.  Smith’s claim of ineffective assistance fails, and we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeffrey D. Farrell, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., Doyle, J., and Scott, S.J.  Opinion by Doyle, J.  (4 pages)

            Dylan Millard appeals the five-year sentence imposed on his conviction for possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, arguing the district court abused its discretion in denying his request for a suspended sentence and probation.  OPINION HOLDS: Substantial evidence supports the sentence imposed by the district court, and the court properly applied the law in imposing it.  Accordingly, the district court acted within its discretion in imposing Millard’s sentence, and we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Kellyann M. Lekar and Bradley J. Harris, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Bower, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, J.  (8 pages)

            Monte Apfel appeals his convictions for five drug charges.  OPINION HOLDS: We find the traffic stop, investigation, dog sniff, and search did not violate Apfel’s constitutional rights.  We affirm the district court’s denial of Apfel’s motion to suppress.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Henry W. Latham, II, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Vogel, P.J., and Vaitheswaran and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, J.  (6 pages)

            In this interlocutory appeal, Great Southern Bancorp, Inc., d/b/a Great Southern Bank (“Great Southern”) challenges the district court’s denial of its pre-answer motion to dismiss Judith and Mark Buckner’s personal injury action for failure to serve process.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude the order extending the time for service was not supported by good cause, and because the extension order was unsupported by good cause, it could not serve as the basis for denying Great Southern’s motion to dismiss.  We therefore reverse the order denying Great Southern’s motion to dismiss and remand for dismissal of the petition.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Jeffrey A. Neary, Judge.  AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.  Considered by Potterfield, P.J., Doyle, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Doyle, J.  (10 pages)

            Catherine Jacobs appeals the economic provisions of the decree dissolving her marriage to Carl Jacobs.  OPINION HOLDS: We modify the decree to ensure the parties share the risk that the Florida property will not sell for an amount that allows them to obtain a full return on their down-payment contributions and reduce the amount of Carl’s reimbursement for his share of the down payment on the Sioux City property from $27,500 to $10,000.  We decline to consider Carl’s gambling losses in determining an equitable property division.  The district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to award Catherine her trial attorney fees.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, David P. Odekirk, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Bower, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, J.  (7 pages)

            Keisha Magee appeals the denial of her application for postconviction relief claiming counsel committed structural errors or otherwise provided ineffective assistance of counsel.  OPINION HOLDS: We find Magee has not established structural error occurred during the postconviction trial and her ineffective-assistance claims brought on appeal for the first time should be asserted in a separate application.  We affirm the district court.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cerro Gordo County, DeDra L. Schroeder, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Vogel, P.J., and Vaitheswaran and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, J.  (4 pages)

            An estate appeals from the district court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of the Iowa Department of Human Services on the estate’s petition for declaratory judgment regarding the payment of an annuity.  OPINION HOLDS: On Jill Jordan’s death, the remaining annuity balance became the personal property of the department as the “100% primary beneficiary.”  The balance was never a probate asset subject to Iowa Code section 633.425 (2017).  The district court did not err in granting the department’s motion for summary judgment.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Pottawattamie County, James S. Heckerman, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vogel, P.J., and Vaitheswaran and McDonald, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, J.  (4 pages)

            Katrina Nikole Cooper appeals a judgment and sentence for delivery of more than five grams of methamphetamine, contending (1) the evidence was insufficient to support the district court’s finding of guilt following a bench trial, (2) her trial attorney was ineffective in failing to challenge the standard used by the district court in evaluating her new trial motion, and (3) her trial attorney was ineffective in failing to challenge her waiver of the right to a jury trial as unknowing and involuntary.  OPINION HOLDS: Substantial evidence supports the district court’s finding of guilt.  We preserve Cooper’s ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim with regard to her jury trial waiver for postconviction relief.