April 2020 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Lee (North) County, Michael J. Schilling and Mark E. Kruse, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and May and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (4 pages)

            Chad Vice appeals from a guilty plea.  OPINION HOLDS: By failing to file a motion in arrest of judgment, Vice waived any claim concerning defects in the plea colloquy.  And the record is not sufficiently developed for us to evaluate Vice’s ineffective-assistance claim.  So we preserve his claim for postconviction-relief proceedings.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Mary E. Howes and Thomas Reidel, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (6 pages)

            Corey Morgan Sr. appeals his conviction for domestic abuse assault by impeding air flow causing bodily injury.  OPINION HOLDS: Morgan claims he received ineffective assistance because defense counsel did not object to the State’s breach of the plea agreement.  We find the State did not breach the plea agreement and, therefore, defense counsel had no obligation to object.  We affirm Morgan’s conviction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cerro Gordo County, Colleen D. Weiland, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Mullins and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (3 pages)

            Michael Weatherspoon appeals from the summary dismissal of his fifth postconviction-relief application, arguing “the district court committed an error of law” in summarily ruling that State v. Plain, 898 N.W.2d 801, 829 (Iowa 2017), did not apply retroactively.  OPINION HOLDS: The postconviction court did not err in summarily dismissing Weatherspoon’s postconviction-relief application.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Joseph W. Seidlin, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (6 pages)

            Jonas Holman appeals the district court decision on his motion for declaratory judgment concerning child support.  OPINION HOLDS: The evidence does not support a finding that the parties entered into a contract that provided Jonas would only be responsible to pay a reduced amount of child support.  Jonas did not preserve error on his claim mortgage payments he made should be offset against the total amount of his child support obligation.  We decline Catherine Holman’s request for appellate attorney fees.  We affirm the decision of the district court.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Nancy S. Tabor, Judge, and Christine Dalton, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Mullins and Ahlers, JJ.  Tabor, J., takes no part.  Opinion by Mullins, J.  (5 pages)

            Marcia Beck appeals her conviction of third-degree theft, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence to support her conviction.  Specifically, she argues there is insufficient evidence to show she aided and abetted and the evidence on valuation was insufficient to establish theft in the third degree.  OPINION HOLDS: We find the evidence sufficient to support Beck’s conviction and affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Muscatine County, Mark D. Cleve and Mark Fowler, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Mullins and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (8 pages)

            Robert Zwolanek was found guilty of domestic abuse assault with strangulation causing bodily injury and domestic abuse assault while using or displaying a dangerous weapon.  He appeals, claiming the district court erred by not granting his motion for judgment of acquittal and motion in arrest of judgment challenging the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the charges; the district court erred in failing to grant his motion for a new trial, claiming the verdicts were contrary to the weight of the evidence; and his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to ensure the jury was instructed on the definition of family or household members.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding sufficient evidence to support the guilty verdicts and no abuse of discretion in the district court’s denial of Zwolanek’s motion for a new trial, we affirm the convictions.  We do not consider his ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim on direct appeal.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Floyd County, Karen Kaufman Salic, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (14 pages)

            The father of the child appeals from the juvenile court’s order terminating his parental rights under Iowa Code chapter 600A (2019).  OPINION HOLDS: On our de novo review, we find the statutory grounds for termination of parental rights of the father have been established by clear and convincing evidence.  In addition, termination of parental rights has been established to be in the child’s best interest by clear and convincing evidence.  We also reject the father’s arguments relating to the record.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Bremer County, Gregg R. Rosenbladt, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and May and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  (13 pages)

            A father appeals from the custody decree granting the mother of the children physical care.  He contends he should have been given physical care.  OPINION HOLDS: On our review of the record, we agree with the district court that the mother edges out the father in terms of her ability to minister to the long-range needs of the two children, especially the older child who has special needs.  So we affirm the district court. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Susan Cox, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  Special Concurrence by Greer, J.  (13 pages)

            A mother appeals the order terminating her parental rights to her three minor children, A.S., L.C., and V.F.   She argues the evidence submitted was insufficient to terminate her parental rights, termination is not in the children’s best interest, and the permissive factors in Iowa Code section 232.116(3) preclude terminating her parental rights.  She further argues the court appointed special advocate (CASA) had a conflict of interest that deprived her of her right to due process of law under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 9 of the Iowa Constitution.  OPINION HOLDS: Sufficient evidence supported termination.  Termination was in the children’s best interest.  The permissive factors did not warrant declining to terminate.  The mother has not shown she was denied due process of law by the CASA’s conflict of interest because she has not shown she was actually prejudiced by the conflict.  SPECIAL CONCURRENCE ASSERTS: I specially concur in the majority decision to terminate the mother’s parental rights.  I believe the mother has the right to raise the issue of the court appointed special advocate’s (CASA) conflict of interest, and any person charged with authority to recommend termination, as the CASA did in her report, cannot avoid a conflict if he or she also wishes to be considered for adoption.  However, because substantial evidence beyond the CASA’s detailed reports existed to support the decision to terminate and the mother failed to show prejudice from the conflict created by the CASA, I agree we should affirm the termination of the mother's rights.  I only write separately to suggest it makes little difference who created the conflict, as the potential harm to the process exists in spite of the distinction. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cerro Gordo County, Karen Kaufman Salic, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  (7 pages)

            A father appeals from the order terminating his parental rights to twins under Iowa Code chapter 600A (2019).  OPINION HOLDS: After reviewing the record anew, we reach the same conclusions as the juvenile court.  The twins’ mother offered clear and convincing proof the father made, at best, a marginal effort to support or communicate with the twins.  Ample evidence also buoys her position that termination is in their best interests, especially for the twin who has special needs.  We thus affirm the termination order.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Hardin County, James C. Ellefson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., Doyle and May, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (5 pages)

            Brittney Ellingson appeals the district court’s physical care determination.  Instead, she requests joint physical care.  OPINION HOLDS: We find joint physical care is not in the child’s best interest.  So we affirm the district court’s determination.  We also decline to award Tyler Teggatz appellate attorney fees.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Monroe County, William Owens, Associate Juvenile Judge.  AFFIRMED ON BOTH APPEALS.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and May and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (5 pages)

            A mother and a father separately appeal the termination of their respective parental rights.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude termination of the father’s rights is appropriate under Iowa law and consistent with the child’s best interest.  We also conclude termination of the mother’s parental rights is appropriate and consistent with the children’s best interests.