2020 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Warren County, Kevin A. Parker, District Associate Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR A NEW TRIAL.  Heard by Vaitheswaran, P.J., Schumacher, J., and Potterfield, S.J.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (9 pages)

            Jaime Lopez Gonzalez appeals his conviction for operating while intoxicated, first offense.  OPINION HOLDS: Lopez Gonzalez argues a statement he made to the arresting state trooper was sufficient to trigger the requirement that the trooper allow him to contact an attorney or family member pursuant to Iowa Code section 804.20 (2017).  We agree and accordingly we find the district court erred by denying his motion to suppress.  Reversed and remanded for new trial.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Paul D. Scott, Judge.  CONVICTIONS AFFIRMED; SENTENCES AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J. (14 pages)

            Anthony Stoner appeals his convictions and sentences following his guilty pleas to three counts of lascivious acts with a child.  On appeal, he argues (1) his guilty pleas were not knowing and voluntary; (2) the district court abused its discretion by failing to provide adequate reasons for ordering consecutive sentences; (3) the district court erred by unlawfully assessing restitution against him; and (4) the district court entered an illegal sentence by imposing surcharges under Iowa Code section 911.2B (2018) in regard to one of the cases.  OPINION HOLDS: Stoner has not preserved his guilty plea argument for direct appeal.  We preserve his argument for postconviction-relief proceedings.  The district court provided adequate reasons for ordering consecutive sentences.  We vacate the part of Stoner’s sentences regarding the section 911.2B surcharge related to M.H. and restitution.  We remand to the district court for entry of a corrected sentence and resentencing consistent with this opinion.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Pottawattamie County, Jeffrey L. Larson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Mullins and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Mullins, J. (4 pages)

            Trevion Smith-Toles appeals the sentence imposed upon his criminal conviction, arguing the court improperly considered characteristics of youth as aggravating, rather than mitigating, factors in imposing sentence.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude the court considered the features of Smith-Toles’s youth as mitigating, not aggravating, and we find no abuse of discretion.  We affirm. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Kellyann M. Lekar, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and May, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (5 pages)

            Martaves Keys appeals from the district court’s denial of his application for postconviction relief following his 2009 convictions on two counts of first-degree murder.  Keys contends the postconviction court erred in  “failing to rule on [his] effort to set [a] new and more stringent standard for postconviction relief pursuant to the Iowa Constitution” and “declining to reach the issue of cumulative error.”  Keys also contends the court should not have denied his claims that his trial attorneys were ineffective in (a) making a brief opening statement, (2) failing to file a motion for change of venue, and (3) failing to request a jury instruction on  officer credibility.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude the district court appropriately denied the postconviction-relief application.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Bremer County, Chris Foy, Judge.  AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED. Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J. (5 pages)

            Michael Lofstuen appeals from his conviction and sentence for various drug crimes entered after his guilty plea.  On appeal, Lofstuen argues the district court improperly ordered him to pay restitution for court costs, surcharges, and correctional fees when the amount of restitution was unknown.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude the court itemized the amount of the surcharges and penalty and could permissibly order him to pay these amounts without considering his reasonable ability to pay.  Because the clerk of court had not yet filed the amount of outstanding court costs, we vacate that portion of the sentencing order and remand for the district court for entry of a final restitution order.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Chad A. Kepros, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, J.  (5 pages)

            Adil Adams appeals the district court’s dismissal of his attempt to challenge a decision by the Iowa Civil Rights Commission (ICRC) to close its investigation of his complaint against the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC).  Adams claims the district court should have granted his motion to reopen the judicial review because he did not receive UIHC’s motion to dismiss or the order dismissing the case.  Adams also contends the district court violated his due process rights by not setting his motion to reopen for a hearing.  OPINION HOLDS: The information available in the record confirms the UIHC sent its motion to dismiss to both his email accounts.  Adams bore the responsibility to update his email, monitor his accounts, and notify the court if he could no longer participate as a registered filer in EDMS.  Next, because Adams does not state in his brief where in the record he preserved the constitutional issue for our review, and we cannot find a district court ruling on his due process issue, we decline to address it.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Scott D. Rosenberg, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (11 pages)

            Marcus Hall appeals his convictions for possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver and failure to affix a drug tax stamp.  OPINION HOLDS: Because all of the evidence Hall objected to on hearsay grounds was cumulative to other evidence in the record, we conclude the evidence was not prejudicial.  We do not consider Hall’s arguments concerning the offense of conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance because he was not convicted on that offense due to the merger of convictions.  There is substantial evidence in the record to support Hall’s convictions for possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver and failure to affix a drug tax stamp.  We affirm his convictions.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Henry W. Latham II, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, J. (6 pages)

            Bradley Fender appeals his conviction for indecent exposure.  He argues the prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt he was the person seen exposing his genitals to the victim.  OPINION HOLDS: Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable the State, including the victim’s in-court identification of Fender, we affirm the district court’s verdict.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Carroll County, Joseph McCarville, District Associate Judge.  CONVICTION AFFIRMED, SENTENCE VACATED, AND REMANDED FOR RESENTENCING.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (3 pages)

            Travis Barker appeals his conviction and sentence after pleading guilty to assault.  He argues the sentencing procedure was defective and counsel was ineffective.  OPINION HOLDS: We find Barker did not knowingly and intentionally waive his right of allocution.  So we must remand for resentencing.  And we preserve his ineffective-assistance claim for a future postconviction proceeding.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Story County, Steven P. Van Marel, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., and Tabor and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, J.  (7 pages)

            Grason Lansman appeals his conviction for driving while barred.  He contends the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence gathered during a traffic stop he alleges violated both his federal and state constitutional rights against unlawful seizure.  Lansman argues the stopping officer wrongly believed his older model vehicle violated a rear lighting statute.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the officer made a mistake of fact—and not a mistake of law—we second the district court’s denial of the motion to suppress and affirm Lansman’s conviction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Story County, Bethany J. Currie, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and May, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  Special concurrence by May, J.  (16 pages)

            Ruben Deases, initially sentenced as a minor for first-degree murder, appeals his re-sentencing of life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving a minimum of forty years in prison, arguing that the court placed undue weight on the nature of the crime and did not adequately balance that with all of the evidence of his rehabilitation. OPINION HOLDS: Because the court did not abuse its discretion in its thorough consideration of the sentencing factors, we affirm.  SPECIAL CONCURRENCE ASSERTS: I wholeheartedly agree there was no abuse of discretion and we should affirm.  But I respectfully submit we should not question the propriety of the State’s expert.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Jeffrey L. Poulson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (3 pages)

            Charles Richards appeals the dismissal of his petition for declaratory judgment.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court was correct in dismissing Richards’s action because he brought suit against the wrong entity.