2020 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Coleman J. McAllister, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (5 pages)

            Xavier Garrett Dey Wynn appeals the district court’s denial of his application for postconviction relief (PCR).  Wynn claims the district court abused its discretion by denying his motion to amend his PCR application in order to include a challenge to his jury venire.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the district court did not clearly abuse its discretion in determining this amendment would substantially change the issues, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Samantha J. Gronewald, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (9 pages)

            Ra’Shaun McGee appeals the district court decision denying his application for postconviction relief.  OPINION HOLDS: We find McGee has not met his burden to show he received ineffective assistance of counsel and he was not subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.  We affirm the decision of the district court.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, William A. Price, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J. (8 pages)

            Bizimana Ciza appeals his conviction for operating while intoxicated, third offense, contending the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress.  OPINION HOLDS: Having found the community caretaking exception to the warrant requirement supported the warrantless seizure, we affirm the district court’s denial of Ciza’s suppression motion and his judgment and sentence.

            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. 

            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.

            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.

            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. 

            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.

            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.

            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.

            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.

            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.