2025 Archive | Court of Appeals Court Opinions

    Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Lawrence P. McLellan, Judge.  CONVICTIONS AFFIRMED IN PART AND REVERSED IN PART; SENTENCE VACATED IN PART AND REMANDED.  Considered by Tabor, C.J., and Chicchelly and Sandy, JJ.  Opinion by Tabor, C.J. (12 pages)
    
    Tyler Freemont appeals his convictions for attempted murder, willful injury causing serious injury, and going armed with intent.  He challenges hearsay testimony and the sufficiency of the evidence of the going-armed-with-intent conviction.  OPINION HOLDS: After reviewing the record, we find the State did not present sufficient proof of movement to convict Freemont of going armed with intent.  We reverse that conviction and remand for the district court to vacate that part of his sentence.  But we affirm his attempted-murder and willful-injury convictions because admission of the hearsay statements, if erroneous, was harmless.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Melissa Anderson-Seeber, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Chicchelly, P.J., Buller, J., and Mullins, S.J.  Opinion by Mullins, S.J.  (2 pages)

            Samir Muhamedagic appeals the district court’s order on his breach-of-contract action against Lejla Suljevic following the sale of a semi-truck.  Muhamedagic challenges the court’s findings relating to his repossession of the truck upon Suljevic’s breach of the parties’ contract.  OPINION HOLDS: Upon our review, we conclude the judgment of the district court is correct, no error of law appears, the questions presented are not of sufficient importance to justify an opinion, and an opinion would not have precedential value.  Accordingly, we affirm without opinion.  

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Coleman McAllister, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Chicchelly, P.J., Langholz, J., and Vogel, S.J.  Opinion by Vogel, S.J.  (9 pages)

            An applicant appeals the denial of his postconviction relief application, which raised ineffective-assistance and actual-innocence claims.  OPINION HOLDS: Because the applicant has failed to show any breach of duty by counsel, that he would not have accepted the favorable plea agreement but for counsel’s actions, and that no reasonable juror would have convicted him of the theft and assault offense, we affirm the denial of his application for postconviction relief.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Tamara Roberts, Judge.  APPEAL DISMISSED.  Considered by Schumacher, P.J., and Badding and Chicchelly, JJ.  Opinion by Chicchelly, J.  (2 pages)

            Justin Lamont Wright appeals his conviction for first‑degree murder.  OPINION HOLDS: Because we lack authority to hear this appeal, we must dismiss.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeanie Vaudt, Judge.  AFFIRMED ON APPEAL AND CROSS-APPEAL.  Heard by Schumacher, P.J., and Ahlers and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Langholz, J.  (16 pages)

            Donald Turner appeals, and his employer—NCI Building Systems—cross-appeals, the district court’s denial of their petition and cross-petition for judicial review of the workers’ compensation commissioner’s ruling.  NCI challenges the commissioner’s decisions that Turner’s work injury caused his mental-health condition, Turner’s physical injuries resulted in an industrial disability rather than scheduled injuries, and that the amount of that industrial disability is forty percent.  It also argues the commissioner improperly admitted a medical report that Turner submitted after the hearing.   Turner challenges the commissioner’s finding that the mental-health condition is not permanent or, in the alternative, the lack of any award of healing-period benefits.   OPINION HOLDS: The district court did not error in affirming the commissioner.  The commissioner’s evidentiary ruling was not an abuse of discretion.  All the challenged findings are supported by substantial evidence.  And the commissioner’s decision is not otherwise unreasonable, arbitrary, capricious, irrational, illogical, or wholly unjustifiable on any issue properly preserved for our review.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Warren County, Martha L. Mertz, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Ahlers, P.J., Chicchelly, J., and Potterfield, S.J.  Opinion by Potterfield, S.J. (5 pages)

            Antonio Lewis appeals his conviction for first-degree murder, arguing there is insufficient evidence to support the jury’s determination he was the person who killed his girlfriend, Karisa Shendelman.  OPINION HOLDS: The State presented evidence that officers responding to the 911 call found Lewis alone and covered in blood in the apartment with his dead girlfriend.  Lewis’s statements to officers explaining what happened were inconsistent—with each other and with the evidence that was collected.  Later, when he was in custody, Lewis admitted that he “stabbed a white bitch.”  Substantial evidence supports the jury’s determination that Lewis killed Karisa; we affirm his conviction for first-degree murder.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Mahaska County, Lucy J. Gamon, Judge.  AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED ON APPEAL; AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED ON CROSS-APPEAL.  Considered by Badding, P.J., and Langholz and Sandy, JJ.  Opinion by Badding, P.J.  (16 pages)

            Mark Groenendyk appeals, and Tammy Groenendyk cross-appeals, from the economic provisions of their divorce decree.  OPINION HOLDS: We modify the district court’s value for one of their farms and remove a debt owed to their farming corporation from the property division.  Accordingly, we increase the total cash equalization payment that Mark owes to Tammy.  We do not disturb the rest of the district court’s equitable distribution of property or its decision to deny Tammy’s request for spousal support.  We also deny her request for appellate attorney fees.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Paul D. Miller, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Tabor, C.J., and Ahlers and Sandy, JJ.  Opinion by Sandy, J.  (18 pages)

            Sarah Bailey and the estate of Eric Bailey appeal the district court’s entry of judgment following a jury trial in which they were found liable for breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation and assessed damages.  The Baileys argue the district court (1) abused its discretion in excluding their proposed Exhibit L, (2) abused its discretion in excluding testimony relating to Sarah’s character for truthfulness, (3) abused its discretion in accepting the jury’s award of speculative and excessive damages, and (4) committed a combination of errors that cumulatively denied the Baileys a fair trial.  OPINION HOLDS: Finding no abuses of discretion, we affirm the district court’s entry of judgment. 

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Coleman McAllister, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Ahlers, P.J., Langholz, J., and Carr, S.J.  Opinion by Carr, S.J.  (6 pages)

            An applicant for postconviction relief appeals the district court’s order granting the State’s motion for summary disposition and denying his application, arguing that newly discovered evidence overcomes the time bar to his application.  OPINION HOLDS: Since the applicant’s proposed newly discovered evidence is not relevant and would not have changed the result of his trial, we find that his PCR application is barred by the statute of limitations.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, David M. Cox, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Greer, P.J., and Schumacher and Badding, JJ.  Opinion by Badding, J.  (21 pages)

            Property owner Meera Enterprise, LLC appeals from a jury’s verdict awarding a storm restoration contractor, Aesthetic Elements, Inc., liquidated damages on the contractor’s claim for breach of contract.  Meera challenges (1) whether there was an enforceable contract; (2) the enforceability of a liquidated damages provision in that contract; (3) the admission of lost-profits testimony from the owner of Aesthetic Elements; and (4) the court’s refusal to submit a spoliation instruction to the jury.  OPINION HOLDS: Having considered all the challenges raised by Meera on appeal, we affirm the jury’s verdict awarding Aesthetic Elements $93,329 in liquidated damages for Meera’s breach of the parties’ enforceable service agreement.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Ian K. Thornhill, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Greer, P.J., and Buller and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Greer, P.J.  (9 pages)

            Ronald Cooley challenges his conviction for failing to comply with the sex offender registration requirements, second offense.  Cooley argues his conviction should be reversed because he was unable to comply with the statute as written—by registering in person—due to the local government’s decision to close the sheriff’s office during the COVID-19 pandemic.  More specifically, he maintains (1) the local decision to close the sheriff’s office and require offenders to register via alternative means (without the Iowa legislature amending the statute) amounts to a constitutional violation of the separation-of-powers doctrine and is fatal to applying the statute against him; (2) the marshalling jury instruction was in error because it did not include the statutory requirement that he register in person; and (3) there is insufficient evidence to support his conviction.  OPINION HOLDS: Because Cooley failed to preserve his separation-of-powers claim, the marshalling instruction was proper in this case, and sufficient evidence supports his conviction, we affirm.

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeanie Vaudt, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Buller, P.J., Langholz, J., and Doyle, S.J.  Opinion by Buller, J.  Dissent by Langholz, J.  (18 pages)

            An employer appeals from a judicial-review proceeding following an adverse decision by the workers’ compensation commissioner.  OPINION HOLDS: Interpreting the statute in question in favor of the employee, we affirm the award of benefits.  Substantial evidence supports commissioner’s industrial disability determination.  DISSENT ASSERTS: Tyler Dungan returned to work and received the same or greater earnings as he did at the time of his unscheduled injury.  The plain and unambiguous text of Iowa Code section 85.34(2)(v) (2019) thus requires Dungan to “be compensated based only upon [his] functional impairment resulting from the injury, and not in relation to [his] earning capacity.”  And so, I would reverse the district court’s and workers’ compensation commissioner’s contrary interpretation of the statute and remand for the commissioner to decide an award based only on Dungan’s functional impairment.