April 2024 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Lars G. Anderson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., Greer, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Carr, S.J.  (11 pages)

            Reginald Little appeals his conviction for first-degree murder under a theory of felony murder, with the underlying felony being first-degree robbery.  OPINION HOLDS: We find there is substantial evidence in the record to show first-degree robbery was committed by another person and Little aided and abetted, or engaged in joint criminal conduct, with this person.  We also find the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying Little’s motion for a new trial.  We affirm Little’s conviction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, John D. Telleen, Judge. AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (11 pages)

            Lamont Llyod appeals his conviction for domestic abuse assault, third or subsequent offense, challenging the district court’s denial of his motions in limine and for mistrial.  OPINION HOLDS: Upon our review we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Deborah Farmer Minot, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Badding and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (9 pages)

            A defendant challenges the denial of his motion for a new trial on weight-of-the-evidence grounds.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding no abuse of discretion in the denial of the new-trial motion, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, David Porter, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Badding and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Buller, J.  (4 pages)

            A criminal defendant appeals his convictions for assault causing bodily injury and criminal mischief in the fourth degree, claiming the State presented insufficient evidence of his specific intent for each offense.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Kellyann M. Lekar, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Schumacher, P.J., Badding, J., and Danilson, S.J.  Opinion by Danilson, S.J.  (6 pages)

            Alvonni Stone appeals his convictions for first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence.  OPINION HOLDS: Stone’s convictions are supported by sufficient evidence.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Andrea J. Dryer, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., Badding, J., and Danilson, S.J.  Opinion by Danilson, S.J.  (6 pages)

            D’iona Wilson-Bass appeals the revocation of her deferred judgment and the sentence imposed.  She claims the court incorrectly believed it was adjudicating multiple allegations of probation violations and abused its discretion by considering those prior violations at sentencing and failing to consider mitigating sentencing factors.  OPINION HOLDS: The court understood what probation violations it was to adjudicate.  The court properly considered Wilson-Bass’s prior violations when adjudicating the most recent report of violation because it informed the court what services had already been offered to Wilson-Bass and had been unsuccessful.  The court did not abuse its discretion when it revoked Wilson-Bass’s deferred judgment following her violation of the terms of her probation.  The court also did not abuse its discretion when it considered her history of probation violations when imposing sentencing, and it adequately explained why it selected the chosen sentence.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Jasper County, Stacy Ritchie, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (6 pages)

            Siobhan Foster appeals the district court’s denial of her application for postconviction relief.  She claims there was not a sufficient factual basis for her guilty plea and her trial counsel was ineffective in failing to file a motion in arrest of judgment.  OPINION HOLDS: Upon our review, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, David M. Cox, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Badding and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (3 pages)

            A defendant appeals his criminal convictions, contending the prior testimony of an unavailable witness was improperly admitted in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to confrontation.  OPINION HOLDS: We agree with the State that the defendant failed to preserve error and affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Muscatine County, Tom Reidel and Joel W. Barrows, Judges.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Greer, P.J., and Ahlers and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  (19 pages)

Nicolas Heims appeals his convictions for sexual abuse in the third degree, assault causing bodily injury, willful injury causing bodily injury, and criminal mischief in the fourth degree.  He argues his retrial after a mistrial violated his double-jeopardy rights, the court erred by allowing amendment to the trial information, insufficient evidence supports his conviction for criminal mischief, and he should have been granted a new trial on the charges of sexual abuse in the third degree, assault causing bodily injury, and willful injury causing bodily injury because the verdicts were against the weight of the evidence.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the prosecutor did not intentionally goad Heims into moving for a mistrial, retrial did not violate his double-jeopardy rights.  Heims waived any objection to the amendment to the trial information.  His convictions are supported by sufficient evidence.  The district court did not abuse its discretion in finding the weight of the evidence did not preponderate against the convictions for sexual abuse, assault causing bodily injury, and willful injury causing bodily injury.  We affirm Heims’s convictions.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clinton County, Mark R. Lawson, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Badding and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (15 pages)

            Jason Tate appeals the denial of his application for postconviction relief.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm, finding Tate has not established that (1) he was prejudiced by trial counsel’s alleged failure to communicate a plea offer; (2) trial counsel breached an essential duty by failing to sever two of his charges; (3) he was prejudiced by the defense expert witness’s failure to examine the weapon used in the shooting; (4) he was prejudiced due to a juror being shown on television; (5) trial counsel had an actual conflict of interest; and (6) the cumulative effect of these errors resulted in prejudice.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Timothy T. Jarman, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Badding and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (6 pages)

Following her conviction for operating while intoxicated, Victoria Dawdy appeals the denial of her motion to suppress, claiming the warrant authorizing a blood draw was not supported by probable cause in violation of the federal and state constitutions.  OPINION HOLDS: The totality of the facts in the warrant application would allow a person of reasonable prudence to believe that Dawdy was operating while intoxicated.  The issuing magistrate therefore had a substantial basis to conclude probable cause existed.  We accordingly affirm the district court’s denial of Dawdy’s motion to suppress.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Story County, Amy M. Moore, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (7 pages)

            Akuk Akok appeals the denial of his applications for postconviction relief, claiming his trial counsel were ineffective in two different cases.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm.