August 2021 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Robert B. Hanson, Judge.  AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED AND REMANDED.  Heard by Bower, C.J., and Tabor and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (18 pages)

            Lauren Conway appeals a modification of the custody order of her child with Tanner Varner.  Lauren challenges the award of physical care to Tanner, the visitation provision, child support, attorney fees, and other issues.  Tanner raises two evidentiary issues without cross appealing.  The child’s guardian ad litem challenges the court’s physical care determination and how it addressed her position in its ruling.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the court’s ruling as modified and remand for the district court to recalculate child support.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Sarah Crane, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (3 pages)

            Eric Tyrone Daugherty Sr. challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction of second-degree robbery.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clinton County, Joel W. Barrows and John Telleen, Judges.  APPEAL DISMISSED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., and May and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (5 pages)

            Justin Hundley appeals from his guilty plea, asserting defects in the plea proceedings and ineffective assistance of counsel.  OPINION HOLDS: Hundley’s appeal is dismissed for failure to preserve error, failure to establish good cause, and our lack of jurisdiction to hear the claims.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Buchanan County, Linda M. Fangman, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., and May and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Mullins, J.  (3 pages)

            Shane Heins appeals his criminal convictions, arguing (1) his counsel was ineffective in failing to move for a change of venue based on pre-trial publicity and (2) the court erred in denying his motion for judgment of acquittal and related challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury’s verdicts.  OPINION HOLDS: We lack authority to consider the ineffective-assistance claim, and Heins failed to preserve error on his challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Coleman McAllister, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by May, P.J., Ahlers, J., and Danilson, S.J.  Opinion by Danilson, S.J.  Special Concurrence by May, P.J.  (6 pages)

            Isidro Ramirez appeals the summary dismissal of his fourth application for postconviction relief.  OPINION HOLDS: Because his application is well outside the statute of limitations and does not meet the criteria of the relation-back exception set out in Allison v. State, 914 N.W.2d 866, 891 (Iowa 2018), we affirm the ruling of the district court.  SPECIAL CONCURRENCE ASSERTS: Dismissal was also appropriate because Allison v. State does not apply to a fourth postconviction-relief application.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Becky Goettsch, District Associate Judge.  APPEAL DISMISSED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Vaitheswaran and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (3 pages)

            Robert Anthony Cooper appeals following his guilty plea to domestic abuse assault causing bodily injury.  OPINION HOLDS: We dismiss Cooper’s appeal.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Sarah E. Crane, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., Schumacher, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Carr, S.J.  (4 pages)

            Donterius Bomar appeals the sentence imposed on his conviction of first-degree robbery.  OPINION HOLDS: The court’s statements at the sentencing hearing and in the written sentencing order show that it considered the factors set forth in section 901.11(3) (2019) in imposing a seventy percent mandatory minimum sentence. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeanie Vaudt, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., and Vogel and Doyle, S.JJ. Gamble, S.J. takes no part. Opinion by Mullins, P.J.  (7 pages)

            Carl Matherly appeals the enforcement of a settlement agreement for attorney fees and assessment of costs.  Carl argues the district court erred in reducing the fee in the settlement agreement because the initial payment was not related to the sale of relevant farmland and because Mary Elizabeth Slezak failed to address the lien directly.  Carl argues the district court erred in assessing costs because he should have succeeded on the merits of his claim.  OPINION HOLDS: The evidence in the record reveals the lien payment was related to the relevant farmland and was subject to the fee agreement, which was properly enforced.  Our review of the record reveals Carl should not have succeeded on his own motion and costs were appropriately assessed. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Jasper County, Steven J. Holwerda, District Associate Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Considered by May, P.J., and Greer and Schumacher, JJ.  Opinion by May, P.J.  Dissent by Greer, J.  (9 pages)

Mitchell Khan challenges the denial of his motion to dismiss the charge of operating while intoxicated.  OPINION HOLDS: Iowa Rule of Criminal Procedure 2.33(2)(a) generally permits the State forty-five days to file a trial information.  The forty-five days began when Khan was arrested in the manner required by Iowa Code sections 804.5 and 804.14(1) (2019).  Because the trial information was not filed within those forty-five days, it was untimely.  DISSENT ASSERTS: Because I believe the trial court followed the guidance of State v. Williams, 895 N.W.2d 856 (Iowa 2017), in determining the filing of the written appearance on December 2, 2019, triggered the speedy indictment rule, I must dissent from the majority opinion.

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

            Jeffrey Gundersen appeals his conviction for assault causing bodily injury.  On appeal, Gundersen claims he received ineffective assistance of counsel.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude that based on Iowa Code section 814.7 (Supp. 2019), we cannot consider Gundersen’s claims of ineffective assistance of counsel in this direct appeal.  Such claims must be raised in postconviction relief proceedings.  Also, we do not apply a plain error rule.  We affirm Gundersen’s conviction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Des Moines County, Wyatt Peterson, Judge.  AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED ON APPEAL; AFFIRMED ON CROSS-APPEAL; AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Tabor and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, J.  (11 pages)

            A mother appeals a decree awarding physical care of her daughter to the child’s father.  OPINION HOLDS: The father refused to allow contact between the mother and her child for three years.  We find the father did so without just cause, so granting him physical care was not in the child’s best interests.  We modify the decree to place physical care with the mother.  We affirm the award of trial attorney fees.  And we award the mother reasonable appellate attorney fees.  We remand to allow a determination of those fees, issuance of a new visitation schedule, and for the recalculation of child support. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for O'Brien County, Don E. Courtney, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Mullins, P.J., May, J., and Doyle, S.J.  Opinion by May, J.  (8 pages)

            Eric Irwin appeals from the decree dissolving his marriage to Joni Irwin.  OPINION HOLDS: It is in the child’s best interest to place her in Joni’s physical care.  The district court’s property distribution was equitable.