March 2024 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Plymouth County, Tod Deck and James N. Daane, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Badding and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  (10 pages)

            Kody Miller appeals his conviction for simple misdemeanor assault.  He contends the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress DNA testing of his blood sample from an unrelated operating-while-intoxicated offense and asserts there was insufficient evidence supporting the verdict.  OPINION HOLDS: The evidence the State offered supports his conviction for assault.  And because the DNA evidence from his blood sample did not contribute to the jury’s verdict, its admission was harmless.  We affirm the conviction. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Pottawattamie County, Richard H. Davidson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (7 pages)

            Rodney Jackson appeals a five-year sentencing no-contact order.  OPINION HOLDS: The magistrate court did not exceed its authority in entering the permanent no-contact order, and the district court properly applied the law in finding that Iowa Western Community College, as a corporation, was a person who could be a protected party under the no-contact order.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, David Nelmark, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Schumacher, P.J., Chicchelly, J., and Danilson, S.J.  Blane, S.J., takes no part.  Opinion by Danilson, S.J.  (9 pages)

            Lester Richardson appeals the denial of his application for postconviction relief.  He claims his trial counsel was ineffective given her inexperience and physical health.  OPINION HOLDS: Counsel’s inexperience did not result in her providing ineffective assistance.  Richardson cannot establish prejudice related to counsel’s performance during purported medical episodes given the strong evidence of his guilt. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Wright County, Gregg R. Rosenbladt, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.  Heard by Tabor, P.J., and Badding and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Badding, J.  Special Concurrence by Buller, J.  (24 pages)

                On interlocutory appeal, Lukouxs Brown challenges the district court’s ruling that he was restored to competency.  OPINION HOLDS: We find the preponderance of the evidence shows that Brown remains incompetent to stand trial but is making progress in regaining competency.  We accordingly reverse the district court’s decision and remand for the entry of an order suspending the criminal proceedings indefinitely and placing Brown in continued restoration treatment.  SPECIAL CONCURRENCE ASSERTS: I concur under Iowa’s unusual de novo standard of review but remain unconvinced the standard is correct.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Mahaska County, Myron Gookin, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Chicchelly, JJ.  Buller, J., takes no part.  Opinion by Chicchelly, J.  (8 pages)

            James Andrew Hols appeals his conviction for domestic abuse assault, contending the district court’s finding of forfeiture by wrongdoing violated his constitutional rights.  OPINON HOLDS: Because we conclude Hols forfeited his right to confront the victim, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Muscatine County, Gary P. Strausser and Henry W. Latham II, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Greer, P.J., and Ahlers and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (12 pages)

            Jeremy Bartenhagen appeals his convictions from two separate cases, one convicting him of prohibited possession of ammunition and the other convicting him of driving while barred.  He argues neither conviction is supported by sufficient evidence.  In the driving-while-barred case, he also claims that the district court improperly admitted only a portion of the arresting officer’s body-camera recording, and that he should have been granted a mistrial or allowed to question the jurors after some jurors saw him escorted by jail officers to the courthouse.  OPINION HOLDS: Because sufficient evidence supports both convictions, Bartenhagen never requested admission of the entire body-camera video, Bartenhagen was permitted to question jurors about seeing Bartenhagen escorted by jail officers, and the court did not abuse its discretion in denying a mistrial, we affirm Bartenhagen’s convictions in both cases.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Tom Reidel, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Badding and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, P.J.  (8 pages)

            A defendant appeals his convictions for murder in the second degree and felon in possession of a firearm, challenging evidentiary rulings from his jury trial.  He contends the court abused its discretion in admitting evidence of his phone calls from jail, and a Snapchat selfie of him holding a gun.  OPINION HOLDS: Because those discretionary rulings complied with the rules of evidence, we affirm his convictions.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Stuart P. Werling, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Ahlers, P.J., Badding, J., and Gamble, S.J.  Opinion by Gamble, S.J.  (8 pages)

            Dayvon Freeman appeals the denial of his application for postconviction relief.  OPINION HOLDS: We find Freeman failed to establish either a breach of counsel’s duty or resulting prejudice and waived his substitute-counsel claim.  We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Humboldt County, Kurt J. Stoebe, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Schumacher, P.J., and Chicchelly and Buller, JJ.  Langholz, J., takes no part.  Opinion by Schumacher, P.J.  (6 pages)

            Krystal Wagner, individually and as the administrator of the estate of her son Shane Jensen, appeals the district court decision granting summary judgment to the State and Officer William Spece on her constitutional tort claims.  OPINION HOLDS: Following Burnett v. Smith, 990 N.W.2d 289, 307 (Iowa 2023), Wagner’s constitutional tort claims are no longer actionable.  And Wagner did not appeal her common law tort claims.  We affirm the decision of the district court.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Joseph Seidlin, Judge.  AFFIRMED ON APPEAL; AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED ON CROSS-APPEAL.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Schumacher and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  Concurrence in part and dissent in part by Schumacher, J. (18 pages)

            Kelly Bast appeals, and Kathy Bast cross-appeals, the financial provisions in the decree dissolving their marriage.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding no failure to do equity as to Kelly, we affirm on appeal.  But we agree with Kathy the court should have set aside $40,000 in proceeds traceable to her inheritance from her sister.  As a result, we modify the decree by vacating Kathy’s equalization payment but affirm on the trial court’s denial of additional attorney fees.  PARTIAL DISSENT ASSERTS: I join in the majority opinion in all respects except for the amount of alimony awarded to the payee spouse. Due to the amount of assets each party received, each party’s retirement status, and the needs of the payee spouse, an award of traditional alimony in the amount of $900 per month is equitable.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Hamilton County, Amy M. Moore, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Schumacher, P.J., Langholz, J., and Gamble, S.J.*  Opinion by Schumacher, P.J.  (8 pages)

            The Hamilton County Board of Supervisors (Board) as trustee of Drainage District No. 71 (DD71) appeals the district court decision reversing its decision to annex certain property into DD71.  OPINION HOLDS: There is not sufficient information in the annexation report to show the land the Board sought to annex into the drainage district would be materially benefited by the annexation, and therefore the land should not be annexed.  We affirm the decision of the district court.

            Certiorari to the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Coleman McAllister, Judge.  WRIT ANNULLED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., Chicchelly, J., and Potterfield, S.J.  Opinion by Potterfield, S.J.  (6 pages)

            On writ of certiorari, Terrence Reasby challenges the district court’s denial of his motion for earned-time credit for the days he spent in a treatment program before his probation was revoked.  OPINION HOLDS: Because Reasby was neither an inmate nor committed to the custody of the DOC while he was on probation and spending time at Bridges, he is not entitled to earned-time credit.  We affirm the district court’s denial of his motion and annul the writ.