State of Iowa
v.
Derek Christopher Mills
Appellee
State of Iowa
Appellant
Derek Christopher Mills
Attorney for the Appellee
Louis S. Sloven, Assistant Attorney General
Attorney for the Appellant
Susan R. Stockdale
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Warren County, Kevin A. Parker, District Associate Judge. REVERSED AND REMANDED. Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Potterfield and Tabor, JJ. Opinion by Tabor, J. (13 pages)
Derek Mills appeals his conviction for criminal mischief in the fourth degree. He argues the district court erred in allowing five prosecution exhibits into evidence over his authentication and hearsay objections. Alternatively, he argues he received ineffective assistance of counsel when his attorney failed to object to other evidence the State offered. OPINION HOLDS: Because three of the challenged exhibits were improperly admitted, and their admission was not harmless, we reverse the conviction and remand for a new trial. We do not reach Mills’s claims concerning effectiveness of trial counsel.
