March 2020 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Story County, Steven P. Van Marel, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, J.  (7 pages)

            Grason Lansman appeals his conviction for driving while barred.  He contends the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence gathered during a traffic stop he alleges violated both his federal and state constitutional rights against unlawful seizure.  Lansman argues the stopping officer wrongly believed his older model vehicle violated a rear lighting statute.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the officer made a mistake of fact—and not a mistake of law—we second the district court’s denial of the motion to suppress and affirm Lansman’s conviction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Story County, Bethany J. Currie, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and May, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  Special concurrence by May, J.  (16 pages)

            Ruben Deases, initially sentenced as a minor for first-degree murder, appeals his re-sentencing of life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving a minimum of forty years in prison, arguing that the court placed undue weight on the nature of the crime and did not adequately balance that with all of the evidence of his rehabilitation. OPINION HOLDS: Because the court did not abuse its discretion in its thorough consideration of the sentencing factors, we affirm.  SPECIAL CONCURRENCE ASSERTS: I wholeheartedly agree there was no abuse of discretion and we should affirm.  But I respectfully submit we should not question the propriety of the State’s expert.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Jeffrey L. Poulson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (3 pages)

            Charles Richards appeals the dismissal of his petition for declaratory judgment.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court was correct in dismissing Richards’s action because he brought suit against the wrong entity. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Marshall County, John J. Haney, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (6 pages)

            Hiram Arizmendi appeals his conviction for lascivious acts with a child.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court gave adequate reasons for Arizmendi’s sentence.  We find the district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Arizmendi to a term of imprisonment.  The court did not rely on clearly untenable or unreasonable grounds for the sentence.  We affirm Arizmendi’s conviction and sentence.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Appanoose County, Daniel P. Wilson, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (6 pages)

            Matthew Mullenix appeals a final domestic abuse protective order issued under Iowa Code chapter 236 (2019).  Mullenix argues insufficient evidence supported the district court’s determination he committed an assault under Iowa Code section 708.1.  OPINION HOLDS: Threatening text messages, voice mail messages, and letters did not constitute an assault and no in-person threats were established, so there is insufficient evidence to support the district court’s finding Mullenix committed an assault.  We reverse and remand for dismissal of the petition for relief from domestic abuse.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Fayette County, Linda M. Fangman, Judge.  AFFIRMED. Considered by Mullins, P.J., Schumacher, J., and Danilson, S.J.  Opinion by Danilson, S.J. (7 pages)

            Alicia Rios appeals her conviction of murder in the first degree.  She claims she received ineffective assistance because defense counsel permitted her to plead guilty when there was not a sufficient factual basis for her plea.  OPINION HOLDS:  We find there is sufficient evidence in the minutes of evidence to show Rios acted with malice aforethought and manifested an extreme indifference to human life.  We conclude Rios has not shown she received ineffective assistance of counsel and affirm her conviction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Jasper County, Thomas P. Murphy, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., May, J., and Mahan, S.J.  Opinion by Mahan, S.J.  (6 pages)

            Christopher Retman appeals, challenging the factual basis for his guilty plea to the charge of arson in the third degree.  OPINION HOLDS: Upon our review, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Hancock County, Rustin T. Davenport, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Greer, P.J., Ahlers, J., and Vogel, S.J.  Opinion by Vogel, S.J.  (4 pages)

            Brittany Walker appeals the district court’s order denying her application to modify physical care of J.H., her child with Jonathan Hanig.  She argues the district court should have recognized there was a substantial change in circumstances and placed physical care of J.H. with her.  OPINION HOLDS: We agree with the court’s denial of Walker’s application, and we deny both parties’ requests for appellate attorney fees.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Floyd County, James M. Drew, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (3 pages)

            Katherine Baldwin appeals the district court’s order voiding the modification of child support and dismissing her contempt action against Devon Frash.  OPINION HOLDS: We agree with the district court’s thorough, detailed order.  Baldwin’s argument on appeal was not ruled on below.  Therefore, it is waived. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Osceola County, David A. Lester and Charles K. Borth, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and May, JJ.  Opinion by Doyle, J. (9 pages)

            Amber Grady appeals her judgment and sentence for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of a controlled substance.  OPINION HOLDS: Grady claims the officer lacked reasonable suspicion to initiate the stop of her vehicle.  Because she did not raise this argument below, error is not preserved.  Although Grady alleges her trial counsel was ineffective in failing to make this argument to the district court, we find that the argument has no merit.  She has therefore failed to show her trial counsel was ineffective.  And we will not apply the plain-error doctrine, which our supreme court has expressly and repeatedly declined to adopt.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Michael J. Shubatt, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (5 pages)

            Patrick Person appeals his sentences for eleven felony convictions, claiming the district court abused its discretion by not granting his request for deferred judgments.  OPINION HOLDS: Since the district court adequately explained the reasons for the sentences imposed and did not consider any impermissible factors, we conclude the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying Person’s request for deferred judgments.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Ian K. Thornhill and Mitchell E. Turner, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (5 pages)

            Jordan Adams appeals his conviction for assault with intent to commit sexual abuse with no injury.  OPINION HOLDS: Adams waived his challenge to the denial of a joint motion to continue when he entered his guilty plea and failed to preserve error on his challenge to the guilty plea.  We affirm.