2020 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Patrick H. Tott, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and May, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (13 pages)

            After starting a fire in his apartment, Mahoney appeals his convictions of first-degree arson and involuntary manslaughter.  He argues there was insufficient evidence for both convictions.  OPINION HOLDS:  We find sufficient evidence and affirm both convictions.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Linda M. Fangman, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (10 pages)

            Marissa Johnson challenges her conviction for attempted second-degree burglary, arguing there was insufficient evidence of specific intent, her counsel was ineffective by failing to request the burglary marshaling instruction include the entering alternative, and her counsel was ineffective by failing to object to hearsay or request a limiting instruction.  OPINION HOLDS: We find sufficient evidence of specific intent to support Johnson’s conviction, Johnson has failed to show deficient performance or prejudice based on her counsel’s failure to request the entering alternative, and the hearsay statements fell under the present sense impression exception to the hearsay rule and her counsel did not breach an essential duty by failing to object.  We affirm her conviction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Bradley J. Harris, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Mullins and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (6 pages)

            Erendira Aldama appeals the district court’s denial of her petition to modify the decree dissolving her marriage to Christopher Aldama.  OPINION HOLDS: On our de novo review of the record, we conclude the district court acted equitably in denying Erendira’s petition to modify the physical care or visitation provisions of the dissolution decree. 

            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.