2020 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Marshall County, John J. Haney, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (6 pages)

            Hiram Arizmendi appeals his conviction for lascivious acts with a child.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court gave adequate reasons for Arizmendi’s sentence.  We find the district court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing Arizmendi to a term of imprisonment.  The court did not rely on clearly untenable or unreasonable grounds for the sentence.  We affirm Arizmendi’s conviction and sentence.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Appanoose County, Daniel P. Wilson, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (6 pages)

            Matthew Mullenix appeals a final domestic abuse protective order issued under Iowa Code chapter 236 (2019).  Mullenix argues insufficient evidence supported the district court’s determination he committed an assault under Iowa Code section 708.1.  OPINION HOLDS: Threatening text messages, voice mail messages, and letters did not constitute an assault and no in-person threats were established, so there is insufficient evidence to support the district court’s finding Mullenix committed an assault.  We reverse and remand for dismissal of the petition for relief from domestic abuse.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Fayette County, Linda M. Fangman, Judge.  AFFIRMED. Considered by Mullins, P.J., Schumacher, J., and Danilson, S.J.  Opinion by Danilson, S.J. (7 pages)

            Alicia Rios appeals her conviction of murder in the first degree.  She claims she received ineffective assistance because defense counsel permitted her to plead guilty when there was not a sufficient factual basis for her plea.  OPINION HOLDS:  We find there is sufficient evidence in the minutes of evidence to show Rios acted with malice aforethought and manifested an extreme indifference to human life.  We conclude Rios has not shown she received ineffective assistance of counsel and affirm her conviction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Jasper County, Thomas P. Murphy, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Doyle, P.J., May, J., and Mahan, S.J.  Opinion by Mahan, S.J.  (6 pages)

            Christopher Retman appeals, challenging the factual basis for his guilty plea to the charge of arson in the third degree.  OPINION HOLDS: Upon our review, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Hancock County, Rustin T. Davenport, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Greer, P.J., Ahlers, J., and Vogel, S.J.  Opinion by Vogel, S.J.  (4 pages)

            Brittany Walker appeals the district court’s order denying her application to modify physical care of J.H., her child with Jonathan Hanig.  She argues the district court should have recognized there was a substantial change in circumstances and placed physical care of J.H. with her.  OPINION HOLDS: We agree with the court’s denial of Walker’s application, and we deny both parties’ requests for appellate attorney fees.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Floyd County, James M. Drew, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Greer, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (3 pages)

            Katherine Baldwin appeals the district court’s order voiding the modification of child support and dismissing her contempt action against Devon Frash.  OPINION HOLDS: We agree with the district court’s thorough, detailed order.  Baldwin’s argument on appeal was not ruled on below.  Therefore, it is waived. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Osceola County, David A. Lester and Charles K. Borth, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and May, JJ.  Opinion by Doyle, J. (9 pages)

            Amber Grady appeals her judgment and sentence for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of a controlled substance.  OPINION HOLDS: Grady claims the officer lacked reasonable suspicion to initiate the stop of her vehicle.  Because she did not raise this argument below, error is not preserved.  Although Grady alleges her trial counsel was ineffective in failing to make this argument to the district court, we find that the argument has no merit.  She has therefore failed to show her trial counsel was ineffective.  And we will not apply the plain-error doctrine, which our supreme court has expressly and repeatedly declined to adopt.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Michael J. Shubatt, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (5 pages)

            Patrick Person appeals his sentences for eleven felony convictions, claiming the district court abused its discretion by not granting his request for deferred judgments.  OPINION HOLDS: Since the district court adequately explained the reasons for the sentences imposed and did not consider any impermissible factors, we conclude the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying Person’s request for deferred judgments.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Ian K. Thornhill and Mitchell E. Turner, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (5 pages)

            Jordan Adams appeals his conviction for assault with intent to commit sexual abuse with no injury.  OPINION HOLDS: Adams waived his challenge to the denial of a joint motion to continue when he entered his guilty plea and failed to preserve error on his challenge to the guilty plea.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Story County, James C. Ellefson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and May, JJ.  Opinion by Doyle, J.  (7 pages)

            George Jackson contends the sentencing court erred in correcting his original illegal sentence without holding a hearing where he could be present.  OPINION HOLDS:  Only the portion of the sentence imposed by the nunc pro tunc order that this court vacated required resentencing for imposition of the statutorily required batterers’ treatment program.  Jackson knew of the requirement that he attend a batterers’ treatment program when he pled guilty plea and no doubt expected his sentence to include the requirement.  We therefore conclude that Jackson’s presence was not required at the correction of his sentence, and any error was harmless.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Howard County, Richard D. Stochl, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (5 pages)

            Carrie Leff appeals the denial of her application for rule to show cause regarding her ex-husband, Charles Leff, and the denial of her request for trial attorney fees.  She also requests appellate attorney fees.  OPINION HOLDS: We find the trial court did not grossly abuse its discretion in declining to hold Charles in contempt for his underpayment of spousal support.  We further find no statutory authority to award trial or appellate attorney fees to Carrie here.  Therefore, we affirm and deny Carrie’s request for appellate attorney fees.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clinton County, Marlita A. Greve, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (8 pages)

            A father appeals from the dismissal of his petition to modify an order’s custodial provisions.  OPINION HOLDS: The changes in circumstances since the order entered in 2017 fall short of the heavy burden necessary for a modification of custody.  We therefore affirm the dismissal of the father’s petition to modify the custodial order.  We decline to award appellate attorney fees to the mother and assess costs on appeal to the father.