2023 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Scott J. Beattie, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Greer, P.J., and Schumacher and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, P.J.  (18 pages)

            Abel Gomez Medina appeals his convictions for second-degree sexual abuse, third-degree sexual abuse, and indecent contact with a child.  OPINION HOLDS: The alleged victim was able to testify via closed circuit television under Iowa Code section 915.38(1)(a) (2021) because testifying in open court would impair her ability to communicate and under 915.38(1)(c) because of necessity.  The summary of comments contained within Gomez Medina’s own evidence during closing argument did not amount to prosecutorial error, and the proposed 911 call logs were irrelevant and therefore inadmissible.  For these reasons, we affirm the convictions.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Nicholas L. Scott, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED. Considered by Greer, P.J., and Schumacher and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (7 pages)

            A defendant asserts that the court abused its discretion by excluding cross-examination of two of the State’s witnesses on a civil action.  The defendant also argues that the jury’s verdict for assault causing bodily injury was against the weight of the evidence.  OPINION HOLDS: We determine Woods’s evidentiary claim was not preserved.  And the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Woods’s motion for new trial.  Accordingly, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Monona County, Tod Deck, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Ahlers and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (9 pages)

            Billy Gene Parker challenges his convictions for second-degree sexual abuse, arguing the evidence supporting the verdicts was insufficient, the weight of the evidence preponderates against the guilty verdicts, and the district court erred by allowing the State to ask Parker about child protective worker investigations and removal of his children.  OPINION HOLDS: Because we find substantial evidence supporting the verdicts, and Parker did not preserve error on the weight-of-the-evidence or evidentiary claims, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Linda M. Fangman, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Tabor, P.J., Badding, J., and Gamble, S.J.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J. (20 pages)

            Stephen Devon Phillips appeals his conviction for first-degree murder, arguing the verdict was not supported by substantial evidence; the trial judge should have recused from his case; his attorney had a conflict of interest; and the court erroneously excluded evidence from the victim’s car and included bad acts evidence.  OPINION HOLDS: We find substantial evidence supports his conviction and the court did not abuse its discretion in the recusal and conflict-of-interest rulings, and any error from the evidentiary rulings was harmless.  We affirm. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Marshall County, Kim M. Riley, District Associate Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Ahlers, P.J., Badding, J., and Scott, S.J.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (7 pages)

            A defendant appeals her convictions for possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and two counts of child endangerment, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding substantial evidence to support the convictions, we affirm. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Patrick McElyea, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Ahlers and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Chicchelly, J.  (5 pages)

                Brett Dennis appeals the dismissal of his application for postconviction relief (PCR) and claims the PCR court did not comply with statutory notice requirements.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the PCR court complied with the relevant procedure and there were no additional notice requirements, we find no error in the dismissal of Dennis’s PCR application.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clinton County, Stuart P. Werling, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR RESENTENCING.  Considered by Greer, P.J., Ahlers, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Carr, S.J.  (10 pages)

            Nicholas Campie appeals his sentences following convictions for enticing a minor and lascivious acts with a child.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude the district court abused its discretion by considering improper factors while sentencing Campie.  The court considered matters that were not supported by the evidence.  Campie is entitled to a new sentencing hearing before a different judge.  We reverse Campie’s sentences and remand for a new sentencing hearing.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Heather L. Lauber, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Tabor, P.J., Greer, Schumacher, Badding, Buller, and Langholz, JJ, and Doyle, S.J.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  Special Concurrence by Langholz, J.  (19 pages)

            Calabretto Building Group sought to hold Tradesmen International—a staffing company—liable for the negligent operation of a forklift by an employee it provided to Calabretto under contract.  Tradesmen denied liability, pointing to the terms of its contract with Calabretto.  Calabretto argued those terms were void under Iowa Code section 537A.5 (2020).  Both moved for summary judgment.  The district court granted Tradesmen’s motion.  Calabretto appeals.  OPINION HOLDS: Because we find that Tradesmen could enforce the contract, and it barred Calabretto’s tort claim, we affirm the grant of summary judgment.  SPECIAL CONCURRENCE ASSERTS: I join nearly all of the court’s well-reasoned opinion.  But I would not reach the retroactivity question because it is unnecessary to resolve this appeal and a host of reasons counsel against doing so.  

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Lawrence P. McLellan, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Schumacher, P.J., and Chicchelly and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Buller, J.  (12 pages)

            Joleen Bolger appeals from the district court’s decree dissolving her marriage to Alan Bolger.  OPINION HOLDS:  Because we find the district court’s division of marital assets and property was equitable and that the district court did not err in excluding Joleen’s expert witness as a sanction for a discovery violation, we affirm.  We decline to award Alan attorney fees.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Winneshiek County, Richard D. Stochl, Judge.  AFFIRMED ON CONDITION and remanded WITH DIRECTIONS.  Considered by Greer, P.J., and Schumacher and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J. (10 pages)

            Victor Hasvold appeals his conviction and sentence for indecent exposure.  OPINION HOLDS: We find that the district court did not err in the supplemental jury instructions and that the verdict is supported by sufficient evidence.  We conditionally affirm Hasvold’s conviction.  But because we determine that the court failed to apply the proper standard to Hasvold’s weight-of-the-evidence claim and that Hasvold did not properly waive his right to be present at sentencing, we remand for a hearing on Hasvold’s motion for a new trial using the proper standard.  In the event the motion for new trial is denied, we remand for resentencing.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Sac County, Angela L. Doyle, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Schumacher, P.J., and Chicchelly and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Buller, J.  (4 pages)

            A postconviction applicant appeals pro se from the denial of her application for postconviction relief.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm, finding no legal error in the district court’s application of the postconviction relief statute of limitations.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Mark R. Lawson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Greer, P.J., and Schumacher and Ahlers, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, J.  (5 pages)

            Bryan Mitchell appeals the district court decision denying his application for postconviction relief from his conviction for first-degree murder.  OPINION HOLDS: Mitchell has not shown he received ineffective assistance based on defense counsel’s failure to depose a witness before trial.  We affirm the decision of the district court.