June 2020 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Montgomery County, Amy Zacharias, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and May, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (7 pages)

            J.T. appeals his delinquency adjudication for an act constituting third-degree sexual abuse.  He argues (1) his constitutional rights were violated when he and the public were excluded from the hearing during the alleged victim’s testimony and (2) there was insufficient evidence to support the delinquency finding.  OPINION HOLDS: We find error was not preserved on the exclusion claim.  And we find sufficient evidence supports the adjudication.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Poweshiek County, Crystal S. Cronk, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Doyle and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (13 pages)

            Monue Forkpayea Geimah appeals the denial of his application for postconviction relief (PCR).  He maintains plea counsel was ineffective in failing to advise him of the immigration consequences of pleading guilty to theft in January 2017.  OPINION HOLDS: On our de novo review, we conclude plea counsel did not inform Geimah “of all the adverse immigration consequences that competent counsel would uncover,” but Geimah failed to prove he would not have pleaded guilty had he been adequately advised.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dallas County, Randy V. Hefner, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (18 pages)

            Angela Clark brought suit against her neighbors, Darryl and Jennifer Downs, for trespass and harassment.  Clark had some success at trial, but she appeals the jury verdict, claiming that the district court made several errors during the trial.  Clark asserts the trespass instruction should have required the jury to award damages because of the admission of trespass, the court erred by not instructing on spoliation of photographic evidence, the court abused its discretion by failing to grant a permanent injunction prohibiting trespassing, and, finally, the court erred by denying the motion for additur or new trial based on an inadequate verdict.  OPINION HOLDS: Under the specific facts of this case, we find any error in the instructions was harmless, the instruction on spoliation was not warranted, the district court did not abuse its discretion by failing to grant a permanent injunction prohibiting trespassing, and, finally, the court properly denied the motion for additur or new trial.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Warren County, Randy V. Hefner, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Doyle and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Doyle, J.  (20 pages)

            William Cody Swim (Cody) appeals the district court’s custody ruling placing his and Sydney Bowlin’s child in Bowlin’s sole legal custody, among other things.  OPINION HOLDS: Upon our de novo review of the entire record and considering the relevant law, we conclude the district court did not err or abuse its discretion in admitting the custody evaluator’s report into evidence.  In any event, because our review is de novo and consideration of the report is unnecessary to reach the issues present here, we do not consider the report in our decision.  On the issues over sole legal custody, we reject Cody’s challenge to the sole custody award for lack of adequate notice, and we agree with the court that Cody’s actions show joint legal custody was not a viable option here.  Additionally, upon our review, we cannot say the district court abused its discretion in finding Cody willfully and wantonly disregarded its prior ruling that ordered Cody to pay an amount of Sydney’s attorney fees by a certain date.  Finally, we cannot find the district court abused its discretion in awarding Sydney trial attorney fees.  For all of these reasons, we affirm the district court’s custody ruling in all respects.  We decline to award appeallate attorney fees.  Any costs on appeal are assessed equally to the parties.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Mitchell E. Turner, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Mullins, J.  (6 pages)

            Acterra Group, Inc., (Acterra) appeals a district court order dismissing its petition for lack of personal jurisdiction.  Acterra argues the district court improperly raised the personal jurisdiction issue sua sponte and that the contract’s forum selection clause was not exclusive.  OPINION HOLDS: Although district courts have the power to dismiss claims sua sponte, that limited power does not extend to issues outside the contemplation of the parties.  Because there is no record the parties ever raised the issue of personal jurisdiction before the court, we reverse the dismissal and remand to the district court for further proceedings. 

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

            Cosby appeals a five-year sentence imposed by the district court for the charge of involuntary manslaughter.  She was driving her vehicle while under the influence.  She lost control of her vehicle and got into an accident.  Her husband was a passenger of the vehicle and he died as a result of his injuries.  On appeal, Cosby contends incarceration was not appropriate because she accepted responsibility for her actions.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the court’s consideration of deterrence falls within its mandate to impose a sentence that “protect[s] . . . the community from further offenses by the defendant and others” we find the district court’s rejection of more lenient sentencing options is not an abuse of its discretion.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dallas County, Thomas P. Murphy, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Mullins and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (3 pages)

            Jason Charlet appeals his plea of guilty to eluding and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, third offense, contending that (1) his plea was not knowing and intelligent and (2) his attorney was ineffective in “fail[ing] to fully discuss the consequences of a plea and available defenses.”  OPINION HOLDS: Because Charlet’s guilty plea was knowing, voluntary, and intelligent, and because counsel did not breach an essential duty in conferring with Charlet about the plea, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Robert J. Richter, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and May and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J. (8 pages)

            Joshua Begle challenges the sentence imposed following his guilty plea.  Begle claims his case should be remanded for resentencing because the court improperly considered his parole eligibility, abused its discretion by imposing a consecutive rather than concurrent sentence, and did not state sufficient reasons for the sentence on the record.  OPINION HOLDS: We find all of Begle’s claims without merit and affirm his sentence. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Michael D. Huppert, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Mullins and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (6 pages)

            The wife filed an application seeking to set aside the parties’ decree of dissolution of marriage on the basis that it was procured by extrinsic fraud.  The district court denied her application to set aside the decree, finding she failed to prove the existence of extrinsic fraud.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court’s findings are supported by substantial evidence.  We agree with the district court that the wife failed to meet the burden of proving extrinsic fraud by clear and convincing evidence. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clinton County, Marlita A. Greve, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Mullins and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Mullins, J.  (6 pages)

            Alejandro Lira appeals the denial of his application for postconviction relief.  OPINION HOLDS: We find counsel was not ineffective as alleged and conclude Lira failed to meet his burden to establish a violation of the fair cross-section requirement.  As such, we affirm the denial of Lira’s application for postconviction relief.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Rachael E. Seymour, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Mullins and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (7 pages)

            A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to one of her children.  She contends (1) the record lacks clear and convincing evidence to support termination under Iowa Code section 232.116(1)(d) (2019); (2) the department of human services failed to make reasonable efforts to reunify her with her child; and (3) “the juvenile court erred in denying [her] motion to bifurcate the roles of [the child’s] attorney and [guardian ad litem].”  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the termination of the mother’s parental rights to the child.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cherokee County, Nancy L. Whittenburg, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., Mullins, J., and Gamble, S.J.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J. (7 pages)

            An offender appeals the order imposing restitution for reimbursement of the Crime Victim Assistance Program and for court-appointed attorney fees, contending the court failed to consider his financial resources in finding he is able to pay.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the court appropriately considered the relevant factors in determining whether the imposition of restitution would cause hardship to DeLong, he failed to meet his burden to prove an abuse of discretion.  We affirm.