Filed Oct 21, 2020
View Opinion No. 19-1626
View Summary for Case No. 19-1626
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Joel A. Dalrymple, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and Schumacher, JJ. Opinion by Tabor, J. (5 pages)
Jason Burt appeals his convictions for possession of marijuana intent to deliver, second offense, and failure to affix a drug-tax stamp. He challenges the district court’s ruling denying his motion to suppress the evidence seized during a traffic stop, contending there was no probable cause. OPINION HOLDS: Because we find sufficient proof the officer had probable cause to believe Burt was violating Iowa Code sections 321.387 and 321.422 (2018) at the time of the stop, the seizure was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Therefore, we affirm the denial of the motion to suppress and his convictions.
Filed Oct 21, 2020
View Opinion No. 19-1652
View Summary for Case No. 19-1652
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Hardin County, Paul B. Ahlers, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and Schumacher, JJ. Ahlers, J., takes no part. Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J. (3 pages)
James Castorena appeals the district court’s sentencing order, contending the court abused its discretion in its statement of reasons supporting the sentence. OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the district court’s sentence.
Filed Oct 21, 2020
View Opinion No. 19-1718
View Summary for Case No. 19-1718
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Story County, James B. Malloy, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Mullins and Greer, JJ. Opinion by Greer, J. (8 pages)
Without the benefit of legal counsel, Curtis Hawkins pled guilty to operating while intoxicated (OWI), first offense, in 2007. Hawkins pled guilty again in 2016 to a second offense OWI. After being charged with a third OWI, Hawkins learned the previous convictions for OWI served as grounds for enhanced punishment. On appeal, he challenges the use of his first, uncounseled conviction for OWI as an enhancement in this case. OPINION HOLDS: We agree with the State that Hawkins failed to show his prior waiver of counsel was not made competently, knowingly, and intelligently. So we affirm the trial court’s ruling.
Filed Oct 21, 2020
View Opinion No. 19-1836
View Summary for Case No. 19-1836
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Winneshiek County, Richard D. Stochl, Judge. AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED. Considered by Bower, C.J., and Doyle and Schumacher, JJ. Opinion by Doyle, J. (5 pages)
Natalie Knutson appeals the economic provisions of the decree dissolving her eighteen-year marriage to David Knutson. OPINION HOLDS: We modify the decree to remove the credit the court gave to David for assets brought into the marriage but affirm a provision awarding David an income-generating business. We decline to award attorney fees and tax costs of the appeal equally to each party.
Filed Oct 21, 2020
View Opinion No. 19-1837
View Summary for Case No. 19-1837
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Marion County, Michael K. Jacobsen, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Ahlers, JJ. Opinion by Bower, C.J. (7 pages)
Anna Sothman appeals the denial of her application for postconviction relief. Sothman claims her trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by providing incorrect and misleading information about her potential sentence prior to her plea and in not asserting her right to a public plea hearing. OPINION HOLDS: We affirm.
Filed Oct 21, 2020
View Opinion No. 19-1962
View Summary for Case No. 19-1962
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Christine Dalton, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Ahlers, JJ. Opinion by Bower, C.J. (4 pages)
Melissa Kittell challenges the sufficiency of the evidence for her conviction for third-degree theft, in violation of Iowa Code sections 714.1, 714.2(3) (2018). In the alternative, Kittell asserts the court convicted her of the wrong level of theft. OPINION HOLDS: Because substantial evidence supports the conviction and the district court did not err in entering conviction and sentence, we affirm.
Filed Oct 21, 2020
View Opinion No. 19-1976
View Summary for Case No. 19-1976
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Plymouth County, Tod Deck, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Ahlers, JJ. Opinion by May, J. (9 pages)
The guardians for two minor children appeal an order granting the mother additional visitation. OPINION HOLDS: The guardians have not shown the district court erred in granting the mother additional visitation. We affirm.
Filed Oct 21, 2020
View Opinion No. 19-2150
View Summary for Case No. 19-2150
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Boone County, Amy M. Moore and Christopher Polking, Judges. AFFIRMED. Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Mullins and Greer, JJ. Opinion by Greer, J. (9 pages)
George Cue plead guilty to four counts of sexual abuse in the second degree. On appeal, Cue argues he was incompetent to plead guilty, and that the lower court violated due process by failing to hold a competency hearing sua sponte. OPINIONS HOLDS: We find that Cue was competent to plead guilty and that due process was satisfied regarding his plea. There was no probable cause established to require a competency hearing. Thus, we affirm his convictions on four counts of sexual abuse in the second degree.
Filed Oct 21, 2020
View Opinion No. 20-0250
View Summary for Case No. 20-0250
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Warren County, Thomas P. Murphy, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Ahlers, JJ. Opinion by Bower, C.J. (8 pages)
Kristi Bloom appeals the district court’s denial of her requested modification of visitation for her child with Trevor Gehringer. OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the district court’s modification of the decree.
Filed Oct 21, 2020
View Opinion No. 20-0262
View Summary for Case No. 20-0262
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Story County, James C. Ellefson, Judge. AFFIRMED AND REMANDED. Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and Schumacher, JJ. Opinion by Tabor, J. (10 pages)
A labor union appeals the district court decision denying its motion for a new trial based on several evidentiary rulings in an age discrimination lawsuit. The union contends the court abused its discretion by improperly excluding relevant opinion testimony of similarly situated employees. OPINION HOLDS: Because we find the opinion testimony was inadmissible and excludable under Iowa Rules of Evidence 5.401, 5.701, and 5.403, the district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the testimony of the similarly situated employees. We also find insufficient evidence the union was prejudiced by those evidentiary rulings. For these reasons, we affirm. Upon request of the plaintiffs for appellate attorney fees, we grant their request and remand to the district court for determining the amount.
Filed Oct 21, 2020
View Opinion No. 20-0313
View Summary for Case No. 20-0313
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Hardin County, John J. Haney, Judge. AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED AND REMANDED. Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Mullins and Greer, JJ. Opinion by Greer, J. (14 pages)
Aaron Heiar appeals several components of the decree dissolving his and Joanna Heiar’s marriage. He asserts he should have been awarded joint physical care or, in the alternative, he should have additional visitation. Aaron disputes the allocation of expenses for the children as well. As for the trial issues, he contends the district court abused its discretion by interfering with the testimony of the couple’s therapist, who then refused to testify, and that the district court afforded Joanna and her witnesses more creditability than they deserved. Joanna requests an award of appellate attorney fees. OPINION HOLDS: We conclude Aaron did not preserve for review his complaints about the district court’s discussion with the counselor witness. We affirm the provisions of the decree awarding physical care to Joanna and setting out the visitation schedule for Aaron. We deny Aaron’s request to change the decree except that we agree he should not pay one-half of the listed expenses of the children. Finally, we remand the issue of appellate attorney fees to the district court to determine a reasonable award.
Filed Oct 21, 2020
View Opinion No. 20-0678
View Summary for Case No. 20-0678
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Susan Cox, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED ON BOTH APPEALS. Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., Greer, J., and Potterfield, S.J. Opinion by Potterfield, S.J. (9 pages)
The mother and father separately appeal the termination of their parental rights to E.H., who was born in 2016. The court terminated each parent’s rights pursuant to Iowa Code section 232.116(1)(h) (2019). On appeal, the mother and the father each maintain the State failed to prove the statutory ground for termination, the loss of their rights is not in E.H.’s best interests, and their respective parent-child relationship should be saved due to the closeness of their bond with the child. Alternatively, each parent maintains they should be given more time to work toward reunification with E.H. OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the termination of the mother’s and the father’s parental rights.