April 2020 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Arthur E. Gamble, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., Mullins, J., and Potterfield, S.J.  Gamble, S.J., takes no part.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (9 pages)  

            Williams appeals from the denial of his postconviction-relief application, alleging that (1) “[t]rial counsel was ineffective in failing to investigate potential defenses”; (2) “[t]rial counsel was ineffective in specifically failing to investigate and obtain evidence regarding the State’s sole eyewitness recanting her initial allegations”; and (3) “trial counsel was ineffective in failing to adequately advise [him] regarding his potential strategies and prospects before a jury, which led to [him] consenting to an Alford plea.”  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the denial of Williams’ postconviction-relief application.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Mary Chicchelly, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (4 pages)

            Earl Travis challenges the sentence imposed after he pled guilty to one count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance (cocaine), a class “C” felony.  He claims the court abused its discretion in imposing his sentence.  OPINION HOLDS: The court sentenced Travis to a sentence within its discretion and provided reasons on the record for the sentence it imposed.  The sentence imposed satisfied the court’s interest in rehabilitation.  Travis failed to show an abuse of discretion.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Joel A. Dalrymple, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., May, J., and Mahan, S.J.  Opinion by Mahan, S.J.  (7 pages)

            Santanyo Pendleton appeals the district court’s denial of his application for postconviction relief following his 2015 convictions of sexual abuse in the third degree, raising claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and prosecutorial misconduct.  OPINION HOLDS: Upon our review, we affirm the court’s order denying Pendleton’s application for postconviction relief.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Marlita A. Greve, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Doyle, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, J.  (9 pages)

            Albert Ware appeals the district court’s denial of his application for postconviction relief, arguing that the use of unreliable scientific Federal Bureau of Investigation testimony undermined his right to a fair trial and arguing that the exclusion of the testimony would probably have changed the result of the trial. OPINION HOLDS: Because error was not preserved on the fair trial issue and because the result of the trial would probably have been the same due to adequately corroborated accomplice testimony, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Robert A. Hutchison, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (8 pages)

            T.M. appeals the district court decision finding he was seriously mentally impaired.  OPINION HOLDS: We find T.M. was entitled to a delayed appeal of the magistrate’s decision, giving the district court jurisdiction to consider the appeal.  Consequently, T.M.’s appeal of the district court’s decision is not barred on jurisdictional grounds.  We conclude the district court did not abuse its discretion by proceeding with the hearing when T.M. stated he was ready to proceed.  In the alternative, T.M. has not shown he received ineffective assistance because counsel did not file a motion for a continuance.  T.M. has not cited any legal support for his due process argument and we do not consider it.  We affirm the decision of the district court.

            Certiorari to the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Nancy S. Tabor, Judge.  WRIT ANNULLED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Greer, JJ.  Tabor, J., takes no part.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (6 pages)

            Bryan Shuford contends his statutory and constitutional right to counsel was violated by the district court when his motion for illegal sentence and request for counsel was summarily denied by the district court without hearing and without appointing him an attorney.  Fifteen years after his sentencing, he now appeals from the order denying his 2018 motion to correct his sentence.  OPINION HOLDS: Shuford’s motion to correct an illegal sentence was proper.  But we avoid the question of whether Jefferson v. Iowa District Court, 926 N.W.2d 519, 524 (Iowa 2019), applies retroactively as, on appeal, Shuford does not challenge the substance of the district court’s denial of his motion to correct and does not make any semblance of a claim that his sentence is illegal.  We annul the writ.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Mary E. Howes and Mark D. Cleve, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (8 pages)

            Wayne Bumpus appeals his convictions for theft and burglary.  Bumpus claims the district court abused its discretion by denying a motion for continuance to permit a mental-health evaluation prior to the sentencing hearing.  Bumpus also asserts his counsel provided ineffective assistance, and the deficient assistance rendered his guilty plea involuntary.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the court did not abuse its discretion and Bumpus has not established ineffective assistance of counsel, we affirm.

            Certiorari to the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Chad A. Kepros, Judge.  WRIT SUSTAINED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Mullins and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (8 pages)

            Eric Peppers petitions for writ of certiorari, claiming he received an illegal sentence.  OPINION HOLDS: Because Peppers was not advised of his right to counsel and did not waive his right to counsel, the district court erred in summarily denying his pro se motion to correct an illegal sentence without adequately addressing the representation issue.  Therefore, we sustain the petition for writ of certiorari and remand for further proceedings.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dallas County, Brad McCall, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and May, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (3 pages)

            Paul Boruch appeals from the dismissal of his application for postconviction relief, contending “all prior counsel [were] ineffective for failing to request dismissal of the underlying charges based on the State’s failure to provide preliminary hearing within 10 days.”  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the dismissal of Boruch’s postconviction-relief application.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Washington County, Daniel P. Kitchen, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Doyle and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Doyle, J.  (5 pages)

            William Walter Evans appeals his convictions for simple assault, second-degree harassment, and false imprisonment.  OPINION HOLDS: Evans failed to preserve error on his claim regarding the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his harassment conviction.  Merger is not required because the offenses of harassment and assault fail the impossibility test.  Evans’s trial counsel was not ineffective in failing to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his false-imprisonment charge because it has no merit.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dallas County, Michael K. Jacobsen, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., Ahlers, J., and Vogel, S.J.  Opinion by Vogel, S.J.  (3 pages)

            Ryan James Mathews appeals his conviction for forgery.  OPINION HOLDS: When viewing the record as a whole in the light most favorable to the State, we find sufficient evidence to conclude Mathews knew the check was a forgery at the time he presented it to the bank, and we affirm his conviction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Kellyann M. Lekar, Judge.  CONVICTION AFFIRMED; SENTENCE VACATED IN PART AND REMANDED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., Schumacher, J., and Blane, S.J.  Opinion by Blane, S.J. (17 pages)

            Dijonis Brown appeals his conviction following jury trial of first-degree robbery, a class “B” felony, in violation of Iowa Code sections 711.1 and .2 (2017).  He raises several ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims and challenges an evidentiary ruling.  Brown also asks the court to remand his case to the district court so he may claim the benefit of a newly-enacted ameliorative sentencing statute applicable to mandatory minimums of first-degree robbery convictions.  OPINION HOLDS: We find Brown’s trial counsel was not ineffective and the district court did not abuse its discretion in its evidentiary ruling.  But, we find Brown is entitled to application of the ameliorative statute, so we vacate that portion of the sentencing order and remand for resentencing regarding the mandatory minimum.