November 2021 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeffrey D. Farrell, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Greer and Badding, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (21 pages)

            A jury convicted James Robinson Jr. of burglary in the first degree, willful injury causing serious injury, first-degree harassment, and false imprisonment.  Robinson, who represented himself at trial, appeals.  He (1) raises a fair cross-section challenge to his jury pool; (2) argues he was neither competent to stand trial nor waive his right to counsel and represent himself; (3) maintains the district court abused its discretion in denying his motion to strike a potential juror for cause; and (4) contends a jury instruction contained a prejudicial error, which he asks us to review after adopting a plain error standard for self-represented defendants.  OPINION HOLDS: Robinson waived his fair cross-section challenge when he acquiesced to the remedy provided to him by the district court, and his claims of ineffective assistance fail.  Robinson did not prove he was prejudiced by the court’s denial of his motion to strike a juror for cause, so that claim also fails.  And, finally, we are not at liberty to use plain error review to consider Robinson’s claim about a flawed jury instruction.  We affirm Robinson’s convictions. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Henry W. Latham, IlI, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Mullins, P.J., and Schumacher and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (17 pages)

            Christopher Dixon appeals his convictions for first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony.  He alleges there is insufficient evidence to support any of his convictions.  He also argues his sentence is unconstitutional because it violates his due process rights and is cruel and unusual.  He contends the court erred in ordering his sentences run consecutively, suggesting the robbery conviction should merge into his murder conviction.  Finally, he argues the court abused its discretion during sentencing.  OPINION HOLDS: We find there is sufficient evidence for the convictions, his sentence is not unconstitutional, his sentences for the first-degree murder and first-degree robbery should not merge, and the court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing.  As a result, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Plymouth County, Tod Deck, Judge.  APPEAL DISMISSED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., Greer, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Carr, S.J.  (4 pages)

                Kenneth Baysdon appeals his conviction for assault with intent to commit sexual abuse.  OPINION HOLDS: We determine Baysdon’s claims challenging his guilty plea may not be considered in this direct appeal because he has not filed a motion in arrest of judgment and has not presented evidence that he fits within an exception to the requirement to file such a motion prior to challenging his guilty plea.  We dismiss his appeal.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Jason D. Besler, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Bower, C.J., Greer, J., and Danilson, S.J.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (22 pages)

            Ezekiel Cortez Phillips Jr. appeals his convictions for first-degree murder, attempted murder, willful injury causing serious injury, and going armed with intent.  Phillips asserts the State violated discovery orders, failed to disclose favorable evidence, and engaged in a pattern of repeated prosecutorial misconduct, and as a result the court should have granted a mistrial or a new trial.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Warren County, Brad McCall, Judge.  AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Tabor and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (7 pages)

            Anthony Ferre appeals the district court’s ruling on his postconviction-relief application.  OPINION HOLDS: Because there was no factual basis for five of the twenty charges to which Ferre pleaded guilty, the proper remedy is to vacate all convictions arising from the plea deal—not just the five without a factual basis—set aside the guilty pleas on all charges, and remand the case to the district court where the State may proceed as if there were never a plea agreement.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Robert B. Hanson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (11 pages)

            John Arthur Wilson appeals the denial of his motion to set aside a default judgment dismissing his postconviction-relief application.  OPINION HOLDS: We find Wilson’s notice of appeal related back to its original filing date, and the court did not abuse its discretion in granting a default judgment in favor of the State and denying Wilson’s motion to set aside default.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Decatur County, Dustria A. Relph, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., and May and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by May, J.  (8 pages)

            Justice Mathis appeals his convictions for three counts of second-degree sexual abuse.  He challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and a jury instruction.  OPINION HOLDS: The State presented sufficient evidence to support Mathis’s convictions.  The district court erred in submitting the challenged instruction, but the error was harmless.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Floyd County, Christopher C. Foy, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., Schumacher, J., and Potterfield, S.J.  Opinion by Potterfield, S.J.  (10 pages)

            Brittany Beek appeals the denial of her application for postconviction relief (PCR).  She challenges the district court’s ruling, arguing it should have found she received ineffective assistance of trial counsel and granted her application.  On appeal, Beek (1) maintains trial counsel breached an essential duty when she failed to object to improper vouching testimony by one of the State’s experts and (2) challenges counsel’s strategy as it pertained to confronting the complaining witnesses at the underlying criminal trial.  OPINION HOLDS: We agree with the district court that Beek failed to prove her claims of ineffective assistance.  We affirm the denial of her PCR application.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeffrey Farrell, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (4 pages)

            Donald Antonio Vaughn appeals the summary dismissal of his third application for postconviction relief (PCR).  OPINION HOLDS: Because Vaughn does not fit within the narrow exception to avoid the statutory three-year limitation period established in Allison v. State, 914 N.W.2d 866, 891 (Iowa 2018), we find no error in the dismissal of his untimely PCR application.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cherokee County, Carl J. Petersen, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., May, J., and Doyle,S.J.  Opinion by Mullins, P.J.  (12 pages)

            Thomas Ruthers Jr. appeals the denial of his petition for a writ habeas corpus.  He argues his counsel in an underlying proceeding concerning his status as a sexually violent predator rendered ineffective assistance in failing to challenge his guilty plea in a criminal proceeding and object to hearsay evidence.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding no cause for reversal on the issues properly presented for our review, we affirm the denial of Ruthers’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cerro Gordo County, Christopher C. Foy, Judge.  AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Greer and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Vaitheswaran, P.J.  (15 pages)

            James Farnsworth II appeals the district court’s denial of several ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims raised in his postconviction-relief application following a jury trial conviction of second-degree murder, including: (1) counsel’s failure to retain a forensic pathologist; (2) counsel’s failure to state the standard of proof in closing arguments; (3) counsel’s failure to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence; and (4) several other ineffective-assistance grounds that “cumulatively establish the necessary prejudice,” including counsel’s failure to object to the court’s application of the cash portion to Farnsworth’s restitution obligation.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the district court’s denial of all the ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims except Farnsworth’s claim that his attorney should have objected to the forfeiture of the $50,000 cash bond.  We reverse the district court’s denial of his claim on that ground and remand for return of $50,000 to Farnsworth.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Jason D. Besler, Judge.  AFFIRMED AND REMANDED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., Mullins, J., and Gamble, S.J.  Opinion by Gamble, S.J.  (13 pages)

            Jason Bailey appeals from a district court ruling denying his request for declaratory relief and order for specific performance relating to two installment contracts.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court’s findings are supported by substantial evidence, and the court did not err in denying Bailey’s request for declaratory relief and order for specific performance.  We award the appellees appellate attorney fees in accordance with the parties’ contracts.  However, we remand to the district court to determine the amount of appellate attorney fees.