October 2021 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, David Nelmark, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED ON APPEAL; AFFIRMED ON CROSS-APPEAL.  Heard by Mullins, P.J., and May and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (15 pages)

            Capital Ideas, LLC and Michael Woody appeal a money judgment in favor of Springboard Advertising LLC and Christina Amys.  Springboard and Amys cross appeal.  OPINION HOLDS: 1. The district court erred in denying Capital Ideas and Woody’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict as to Springboard and Amys’s defamation per se claim.  2. The district court was correct to conclude Woody’s statement that Amys had “no ethics” was protected opinion.  3. The district court did not abuse its discretion by disallowing Springboard and Amys’s proposed amendments to their pleadings.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cass County, Jeffrey L. Larson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., May, J., and Doyle, S.J.  Opinion by May, J.  (2 pages)

            David Boggs appeals an order denying his motion to extinguish his restitution obligation.  OPNION HOLDS: We affirm without opinion.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Heather Lauber, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., Ahlers, J., and Scott, S.J.  Opinion by Scott, S.J.  (4 pages)

            Robert Johnston Jr. appeals the summary disposition of his application for postconviction relief (PCR) on statute-of-limitations grounds.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the denial of Johnston’s PCR application.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, John D. Ackerman, Judge.  AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., Ahlers, J., and Vogel, S.J.  Opinion by Vogel, S.J.  (6 pages)

            Keygan Egdorf appeals his sentence and restitution for his conviction for theft in the second degree.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court did not consider an improper factor in sentencing, and we thus find no abuse of discretion in the court’s sentence.  The court erred in delaying a determination of Egdorf’s reasonable ability to pay restitution, and we reverse the delay and remand to provide Egdorf with an opportunity to obtain this determination.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Keokuk County, Shawn R. Showers, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., May, J., and Potterfield, S.J.  Opinion by Potterfield, S.J.  (9 pages)

            Brian Allison appeals from the denial of his second application for postconviction relief (PCR).  He argues (1) the district court wrongly concluded his first PCR appellate counsel did not provide ineffective assistance in declining to raise an issue on appeal and (2) the district court should have found a change in law about expert testimony and bolstering credibility rendered certain trial testimony inadmissible and warrants a new trial.  OPINION HOLDS: Allison’s trial counsel did not breach an essential duty in deciding not to attack a witness’s credibility with allegations that witness perpetrated sexual abuse, so Allison’s first PCR appellate counsel had no reason to challenge the first PCR court’s ruling on appeal.  And State v. Dudley, 856 N.W.2d 668 (Iowa 2014) did not announce a new ground of law, so Allison’s second claim also fails.  We affirm the denial of Allison’s second PCR application.

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Lawrence P. McLellan, Judge.  WRIT ANNULLED.  Heard by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (8 pages)

Zachary Huber appeals the extension of a no-contact order prohibiting him from contacting his former wife.  OPINION HOLDS: We find the district court appropriately considered Huber’s motives as they related to his credibility.  The district court did not err in considering the events leading to Huber’s conviction, nor did it err in finding he failed to meet his burden of proof.  The district court did not err in finding Huber failed to meet his burden of proving he no longer posed a threat to the protected party.  Accordingly, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Washington County, Shawn Showers, Judge.  APPEAL DISMISSED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Greer and Badding, JJ.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (4 pages)

            William McCarroll appeals his judgment and sentence following his written guilty plea to felony eluding and operating while intoxicated, first offense.  He raises several ineffective‑assistance-of-counsel claims in challenging his guilty plea and sentence.  OPINION HOLDS: Because we lack authority to decide McCarroll’s claims under Iowa Code sections 814.6 and 814.7 (2020), we must dismiss his appeal. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Christopher Kemp and Carol L. Coppola, District Associate Judges.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Heard by Tabor, P.J., and Greer, and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  Dissent by Greer, J.  (21 pages)

            James Dow Flanagan was pulled over because his passenger was not wearing her seat belt.  As the trooper processed the seat belt violation, he launched a collateral operating-while-intoxicated investigation into Flanagan.  On appeal, Flanagan seeks to suppress the fruits of the stop, arguing that the state trooper improperly expanded the stop’s duration and scope.  OPINION HOLDS: The trooper unlawfully extended the stop’s duration by placing Flanagan in his patrol car and investigating collateral matters despite lacking reasonable suspicion.  So we reverse the conviction and remand.  DISSENT ASSERTS: I dissent from the majority's conclusion that the traffic stop was extended without sufficient cause and would affirm the denial of the motion to suppress.  In my view, this case falls into a category where a traffic-violation stop leads to the officer recognizing a strong possibility of other criminal activity justifying further investigation.  I find nothing wrong with asking Flanagan to move to the patrol car and the investigation into his impairment that followed. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Henry W. Latham II, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., and May and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (3 pages)

            John Gipson appeals the summary dismissal of his fifth application for postconviction relief (PCR).  OPINION HOLDS: Because Gipson does not identify which of his claims should have survived summary dismissal, and we decline to take on a partisan role of sifting through his claims to develop an argument, we affirm the summary dismissal.  The PCR court did not abuse its discretion in declining to appoint Gipson counsel.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Boone County, Gina C. Badding, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by May, P.J., and Greer and Schumacher, JJ.  Badding, J. takes no part.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (8 pages).

            Rickey Tolle appeals the partition plan adopted by the district court.  Robert Tolle cross-appeals, contending the court erred in conditioning owelty payments on the removal of a junk pile.  Robert also argues the court erred in its division of costs and refusing to award him attorney fees.  OPINION HOLDS: We find the court did not err in its partition of the property, the award of payments for removal of the junk pile, the division of costs, or declination of attorney fees.  Accordingly, we affirm.  

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Monica Zrinyi Wittig, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., Mullins, J., and Gamble, S.J.  Opinion by Gamble, S.J.  (12 pages)

            Jeffrey Juergens appeals his convictions of lascivious acts with a child by solicitation and indecent exposure.  He argues the district court erred by admitting hearsay evidence.  OPINION HOLDS: The child protective center video was properly admitted under the residual exception to the hearsay rule.  The parents’ testimony of the child’s out-of-court statements was cumulative of other admitted testimony.  And a pediatrician’s testimony to the child’s out-of-court statements was properly admitted under the medical-treatment rule.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Mahaska County, Crystal S. Cronk, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Greer and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (5 pages)

            Robert Davis appeals from the summary dismissal of his third application for postconviction relief (PCR) following his 2008 convictions of two counts of second-degree sexual abuse and four counts of third-degree sexual abuse.  On appeal, Davis argues summary dismissal of his third PCR application was not appropriate because he needed trial to develop his Allison v. State, 914 N.W.2d 866, 891 (Iowa 2018) claims.  In the alternative, Davis argues the district court should have considered the merits of his claims because the three-year statute of limitations on PCR actions is an unconstitutional suspension of habeas corpus.  OPINION HOLDS: We have repeatedly held third PCR applications do not fall within the narrow exception outlined in Allison and binding supreme court precedent establishes the three-year statute of limitations is not an unconstitutional suspension of habeas corpus.  We affirm.