2025 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Tamara Roberts, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Schumacher, P.J., and Buller and Sandy, JJ.  Opinion by Sandy, J.  (7 pages)

            Alejandro Garcia appeals the district court’s order granting Katherine Garcia primary physical care over their two minor children.  OPINION HOLDS: We conclude that joint physical care is not in the children’s best interests, and we affirm the district court’s order awarding Katherine physical care of the two youngest daughters as well as the district court’s visitation schedule.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clay County, Shawna L. Ditsworth, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Tabor, C.J., and Greer and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Buller, J.  (6 pages)

            A respondent appeals a mental-health civil commitment order and asserts ineffective assistance of counsel.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the civil commitment. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Marshall County, Paul G. Crawford, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Schumacher, P.J., and Badding and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Langholz, J.  (10 pages)

            A father appeals the termination of his parental rights to his son.  OPINION HOLDS: On our de novo review, we agree with the juvenile court that termination of the father’s parental rights is in the son’s best interest.  And the court appropriately denied the father’s request for six more months to work toward reunification because there was no prospect that the need for removal would no longer exist after six months.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Carrie K. Bryner, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Tabor, C.J., and Greer and Buller, JJ.  Opinion by Buller, J.  (8 pages)

            A father appeals the termination of his parental rights to his child.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding the ground for termination was established, termination is in the child’s best interests, and the father failed to prove an exception, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Thomas J. Straka, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Schumacher, P.J., and Badding and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Langholz, J.  (6 pages)

            A mother appeals the termination of her parental rights, claiming termination was not in the son’s best interest due to the parent-child bond.  She also requests an extension of time for reunification with the child to give her a chance to drug-test more often and enter substance-use treatment.  OPINION HOLDS: While the mother has a close bond with the son, her failure to make any progress in addressing her substance-use problem continues to be a concern.  Given her long history of substance use, the juvenile court was reasonable in determining it did not have cause to grant an extension, and termination is in the son’s best interest.  We thus affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Tabitha Turner, Judge.  WRIT ANNULLED.  Considered without oral argument by Greer, P.J., Chicchelly, J., and Doyle, S.J.  Opinion by Chicchelly, J.  (5 pages)

            Daquashaila Jackson petitions for a writ of certiorari challenging the district court’s notice of firearm prohibition.  She alleges the district court’s notice of firearm prohibition is unconstitutional. OPINION HOLDS: Because we find the firearms prohibition is not part of the sentence, we annul the writ of certiorari.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Mark T. Hostager, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Schumacher, P.J., and Badding and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Langholz, J.  (4 pages)

            Charles Beyer appeals his conviction for possession of methamphetamine, second offense, challenging the denial of his motion to suppress.  He argues that the warrantless search of his wallet was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article I, section 8, of the Iowa Constitution.  OPINION HOLDS: On our de novo review, we agree with the district court that the search was reasonable under both our federal and state constitutions because the wallet was in Beyer’s pocket at or immediately before the time of his arrest and so the search-incident-to-lawful-arrest exception to the warrant requirements applies.  We thus affirm the district court’s denial of the motion to suppress and Beyer’s conviction.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Melissa Anderson-Seeber, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Ahlers, P.J., and Chicchelly and Sandy, JJ.  Opinion by Sandy, J.  (3 pages)

            Cody Plummer appeals the district court’s denial of his application for postconviction relief, arguing trial counsel was ineffective in failing to move to suppress his statements to police.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cass County, Richard H. Davidson, Judge.  CONVICTION AFFIRMED, SENTENCE VACATED, AND REMANDED FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS.  Considered without oral argument by Greer, P.J., Badding, J., and Potterfield, S.J.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (12 pages)

            Tyler Mills appeals his conviction for third-offense stalking, challenging the denial of his motion for mistrial, the sufficiency of the evidence, and a sentencing enhancement that the district court imposed based on Mills’s stipulation to prior stalking convictions.  OPINION HOLDS: We find no abuse of discretion in the court’s denial of Mills’s mistrial motion, and substantial evidence supports the disputed elements of his conviction.  However, we agree with Mills that the district court’s colloquy failed to confirm that his stipulation to prior convictions was voluntary and intelligent.  Therefore, we vacate Mills’s sentence and remand this case for further proceedings.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Story County, Jennifer Miller, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Schumacher, P.J., Chicchelly, J., and Mullins, S.J.  Opinion by Mullins, S.J.  (3 pages)

            James McCurdy appeals the district court’s dismissal of his application for postconviction relief, arguing the three-year limitations period in Iowa Code section 822.3 (2023) is unconstitutional.  OPINION HOLDS: McCurdy fails to explain why we should second-guess the constitutionality of section 822.3 based on the Supreme Court’s reasoning in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022).  We therefore deem any constitutional challenge waived.  Because McCurdy filed his application long after the three-year limitations period had closed, we affirm dismissal.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Celene Gogerty, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Tabor, C.J., and Ahlers and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J. (5 pages)

            Darion Hermes appeals his sentence after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and robbery in the first degree.  He claims the court abused its discretion when determining the mandatory minimum sentence for the robbery conviction.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm because the sentencing court considered many relevant factors before reaching its decision and therefore did not abuse its discretion when determining the mandatory minimum.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Benton County, Chad Kepros, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Schumacher, P.J., and Buller and Sandy, JJ.  Opinion by Buller, J.  (14 pages)

            A criminal defendant appeals her conviction for first-degree murder.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding no abuse of discretion in the district court’s denial of venue change or a mistrial, substantial evidence supporting the verdict, and the jury instruction claim to be unpreserved, we affirm.