State of Iowa
v.
Lundell Buchanan
Appellee
State of Iowa
Appellant
Lundell Buchanan
Attorney for the Appellee
Tyler J. Buller, Assistant Attorney General
Attorney for the Appellant
Chad R. Frese
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Linn County, Casey D. Jones, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED ON CONDITION AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS. Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and Mullins, JJ. Opinion by Mullins, J. (5 pages)
Lundell Buchanan appeals multiple criminal convictions following a jury trial. He contends the racial composition of the jury pool violated his constitutional right to a jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community. He also argues the district court abused its discretion in denying his morning-of-trial request for new counsel on the basis that he previously alleged his defense counsel rendered ineffective assistance in a prior representation and his attorney was ineffective in failing to discover this circumstance sooner. OPINION HOLDS: We deem Buchanan’s argument that the district court abused its discretion in denying his request for new counsel waived and conclude trial counsel was not ineffective as alleged. However, we conclude the district court should have granted Buchanan’s request to further investigate the racial composition of the jury pool. As such, we conditionally affirm Buchanan’s convictions and remand the matter to the district court for development of the record on the challenge to the composition of the jury. Following development of the record, we direct the district court to determine whether Buchanan’s constitutional right to a representative jury was violated. If so, the court shall grant a new trial.
