2024 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Story County, Steven P. Van Marel, Judge.  APPEAL DISMISSED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Chicchelly, J.  (2 pages)

            Hannah Jean Hennick pled guilty to driving while barred as a habitual offender.  OPINION HOLDS: Because there is no good cause for the appeal, error was not preserved on this issue, and we cannot decide ineffective-assistance claims on direct appeal, we must dismiss the appeal.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Tod Deck, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Badding and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Badding, J. (7 pages)

            Ricco Fourkiller appeals his conviction for willful injury causing bodily injury, arguing the evidence was insufficient to prove he specifically intended to cause serious injury.  OPINION HOLDS: Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, we find sufficient evidence supports the verdict and affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Paul D. Miller, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., Greer, J., and Vogel, S.J.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (9 pages)

            S.P. appeals the district court’s finding he suffered from serious mental impairment and his commitment was proper.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding clear and convincing evidence to support the district court’s ruling, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dickinson County, Charles Borth, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.  Heard by Bower, C.J., Chicchelly, J., and Doyle, S.J.  Opinion by Doyle, S.J.  (20 pages)

            Woodlyn Hills Estates, LLC (Woodlyn Hills) owns nearly eighty-eight acres of real estate in rural Dickinson County; it applied for a conditional use permit to develop an RV park with 174 spots.  Following public hearings, the Dickinson County Board of Adjustment (the Board) voted 3-2 to grant the permit.  Country View Acres Homeowners (the Homeowners), a nonprofit association of individuals who own homes in Dickinson County near the proposed RV park, petitioned for a writ of certiorari to challenge the Board’s decision.  The district court allowed Woodlyn Hills to intervene in the proceedings and, following the admission of some additional evidence, ultimately annulled the writ.  On appeal, the Homeowners claim the writ should have been sustained because the Board acted illegally by failing to substantially comply with procedural requirements before reaching its decision and because its decision to grant the conditional use permit is not supported by substantial evidence.  OPINION HOLDS: Considering all the procedural issues discussed, we conclude the Board failed to substantially comply with its own procedural requirements and thus acted illegally.  We need not address the parties’ other arguments raised on appeal. We reverse the ruling of the district court annulling the writ.  We remand for reinstatement of the writ and for further proceedings, during which the Board should reopen the record for public comment.  The Board shall receive Van Orsdel’s April 21 email and any correspondence submitted as attachment 4170, that have identifiable authors, which were not read at the April 25 meeting, and the letters from Megan Skalicky and Seth Skalicky, before conducting another vote on whether to grant the conditional use permit.  We take no position on whether the conditional use permit for the RV park should be granted. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Monica Zrinyi Ackley, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Greer, P.J., and Ahlers and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Buller, J.  (8 pages)

            Champayne Renee Sandifer-Jackson appeals her sentence, claiming there was a binding plea agreement, and the district court abused its discretion.  OPINION HOLDS: Sandifer-Jackson’s plea was not conditioned on the court’s acceptance of a particular sentence, and the sentence imposed was not an abuse of discretion.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Butler County, Peter B. Newell, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Tabor, P.J., Schumacher, J., and Potterfield, S.J.  Opinion by Potterfield, S.J.  (3 pages)

            On discretionary review, Jesse DeGroote challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction for simple-misdemeanor assault.  OPINION HOLDS: Substantial evidence supports DeGroote’s conviction for assault, so we affirm. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Gregory D. Brandt, Judge.  VACATED AND REMANDED FOR RESENTENCING.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (12 pages)

            The defendant appeals the sentence imposed following his conviction for operating while intoxicated, second offense.  OPINION HOLDS: Because we find that the sentencing court relied on unproven facts in making its sentencing decision, we vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Sarah E. Crane, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Schumacher and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Langholz, J.  (5 pages)

            Noah Knight appeals from the parenting schedule set in an order awarding joint legal custody and joint physical care of his daughter with Athena Soumas.  OPINION HOLDS: The alternating weekend parenting schedule is in the best interest of the parties’ daughter.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Joseph Seidlin, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (18 pages)

            Dr. Qingli Meng challenges the district court’s denial of her petition for judicial review.  OPINION HOLDS: Both the university-wide standards in chapter three of the Faculty Handbook as well as the old department-specific standards that Dr. Meng opted into governed the procedure here; therefore, the Committee and Head of the Department relied on the correct procedure in evaluating Dr. Meng’s application for tenure and the Board of Regents did the same in accepting their decision.  Its decision to deny her tenure was rational, made with regard to the law and facts, and based on reasonable grounds.  For these reasons, we affirm the district court’s denial of Dr. Meng’s petition for judicial review.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Zachary Hindman, Judge.  MODIFICATION AFFIRMED; WRIT ANNULLED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., Langholz, J., and Danilson, S.J.  Opinion by Bower, C.J.  (20 pages)

            Justin Olson appeals the district court’s order modifying the visitation provisions of a custody decree and finding him in contempt for depriving Sara Whitead parenting time with their child.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the modification of the parties’ custody decree.  We further find substantial evidence Justin willfully violated the decree, and we annul the writ of certiorari.  We deny Justin’s challenge to the district court’s award of trial attorney fees to Sara, and we award Sara $9842.50 in appellate attorney fees.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeanie Vaudt, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Schumacher, P.J., and Ahlers and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Schumacher, P.J.  (10 pages)

            Raymond Wilson appeals the modification of the parties’ dissolution decree granting Staesha Fenton, formerly Staesha Wilson, sole legal custody of their two minor children.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude Staesha established a material and substantial change in circumstances since entry of the dissolution decree warranting modification and Raymond has focused solely on his own interests, rather than the best interests of the children.  We affirm the decision placing the children in Staesha’s sole legal custody.  We decline to award Staesha appellate attorney fees.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Romonda D. Belcher, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, J.  (17 pages)

            A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights to her three children.  OPINION HOLDS: Because we find there was clear and convincing evidence of the statutory ground for termination in Iowa Code 232.116(1)(f) and (h) (2023), the best interests of the children are best served by termination, the permissive exception does not preclude termination, and the department met the active-efforts requirement under the Indian Child Welfare Act, we affirm the termination of the mother’s parental rights.  The mother did not preserve error on her request for six additional months.