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Case No. 17-0680

State of Iowa
v.
Elias Walter Wanatee

Appellee

State of Iowa

Appellant

Elias Walter Wanatee

Attorney for the Appellee

Louis S. Sloven, Assistant Attorney General

Attorney for the Appellant

Theresa R. Wilson, Assistant Appellate Defender

Court of Appeals

Court of Appeals Opinion

Opinion Number:
17-0680
Date Published:
Oct 10, 2018
Summary

           Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Duane E. Hoffmeyer, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Heard by Vogel, P.J., Tabor, J., and Blane, S.J.  Opinion by Tabor, J. (17 pages)

            Elias Wanatee appeals his conviction for second-degree murder, maintaining trial counsel was ineffective in failing to effectively object to hearsay testimony identifying “Eli” as the attacker and failing to seek the exclusion of testimony from a “jailhouse snitch,” and argues the cumulative effect of the errors resulted in prejudice.  Wanatee further argues the district court erred in permitting the State medical examiner to use the term “defensive wounds,” and by admitting into evidence a diagram from a pathology textbook illustrating “defensive wounds.”  OPINION HOLDS: Finding no breach of duty by counsel and no prejudice resulting from the district court’s admission of evidence relating to “defensive wounds,” we affirm.

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