2020 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            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. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Gregory D. Brandt, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  (7 pages)

            Adam Burkhead appeals his conviction for operating while intoxicated, first offense.  He believes the district court should have suppressed his breath test as he was unable to “validly consent to testing.”  He also condemns his trial counsel’s performance in raising the grounds for suppression.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the body camera footage showed the officer’s reasonable efforts to convey the implied consent warnings to Burkhead and to accommodate his explicit consent to submit to testing, we affirm the suppression ruling.  Next, because Burkhead’s prosecution is not one of those rare cases where the trial record alone is sufficient to resolve the claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, we reserve the claim for postconviction proceedings, if he decides to pursue them.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Marion County, Martha L. Mertz, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (12 pages)

            Plaintiff appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant. OPINION HOLDS: We affirm summary judgment against plaintiff granted by the district court based on defendants’ affirmative defense of substantial truth, and we also affirm on the basis of qualified privilege.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Jeffrey A. Neary, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., Mullins, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Carr, S.J.  (4 pages)

            Darrell Bizzett appeals the order granting summary disposition of his fourth application for postconviction relief.  OPINION HOLDS: Ignoring any other impediments to Bizzett’s application and assuming his allegations are true, Bizzett cannot show by clear and convincing evidence that no reasonable jury could have convicted him of murder. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Douglas F. Staskal, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR NEW TRIAL.  Heard by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Mullins, J. (13 pages)

            Dantrell Matthews appeals his convictions for carrying weapons and criminal gang participation.  Matthews argues there was insufficient evidence to support conviction on both charges and that his counsel was ineffective in failing to challenge specific elements of both charges and an improper jury instruction.  OPINION HOLDS: Our review of the record reveals sufficient evidence was presented to convict Matthews of both crimes.  However, counsel’s failure to request an instruction on the “going” element of carrying weapons constituted failure to perform an essential duty that prejudiced Matthews.  Accordingly, Matthews’s convictions on both counts are reversed and remanded for new trial.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeffrey D. Farrell and Scott D. Rosenberg, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., Greer, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Carr, S.J. (5 pages)

            Thomas Domenig appeals his conviction for possession of methamphetamine, second offense.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the denial of Domenig’s motion to suppress the items found during the search of his vehicle because the search fell under the automobile exception to the warrant requirement.  Domenig’s agreement to a trial on the minutes of evidence and immediate sentencing waived his challenge to the sufficiency of the trial court’s fact findings and its failure to rule on a pro se motion to dismiss.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Des Moines County, Emily Dean, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Doyle and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (10 pages)

            Heidi Fiems appeals her conviction for child endangerment.  On appeal, she raises two ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims and challenges two evidentiary rulings by the trial court.  OPINION HOLDS: Fiems did not establish she received ineffective assistance from counsel, and the court did not abuse its discretion in the evidentiary rulings.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Lee (South) County, Wyatt P. Peterson, Judge.  AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (7 pages)

            Midwest Storm Company, LLC (Midwest) claims the district court erred in denying its motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) and new trial.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the plaintiffs’ claims fail as a matter of law, the district court erred in denying the motion for JNOV.  Midwest’s appellate claim regarding its motion for new trial was not preserved for appeal.