Case No. 18-0672

Terry Daniels
v.
State of Iowa

Appellant

Terry Daniels

Appellee

State of Iowa

Attorney for the Appellant

Lanny M. Van Daele

Attorney for the Appellee

Genevieve Reinkoester, Assistant Attorney General

Court of Appeals

Court of Appeals Opinion

Summary

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, David P. Odekirk, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR NEW TRIAL.  Considered by Bower, C.J., and Potterfield and Tabor, JJ.  Opinion by Potterfield, J.  (15 pages)

            Terry Daniels challenges the denial of his application for postconviction relief, following his 2014 convictions for possession of or conspiracy to possess more than fifty grams of cocaine base with the intent to deliver and failure to possess a drug tax stamp.  As he did before the PCR court, Daniels claims he received ineffective assistance from trial counsel when counsel failed to 1) object to incomplete jury instructions on aiding and abetting and 2) challenge the two amendments to the trial information.  Daniels also claims he received ineffective assistance from his direct appeal counsel, maintaining counsel should have challenged the district court’s ruling there was sufficient evidence to include Latasha Daniels as a co-conspirator in the marshalling instruction.  In his pro se brief, Daniels joins the arguments made by counsel and also argues 1) trial counsel was ineffective for allowing him to waive his right to be tried within one year after the one-year deadline had already passed, 2) there was insufficient evidence to support the alternative theories presented to the jury, and 3) the verdict against him was not unanimous.  OPINION HOLDS: Because trial counsel breached an essential duty in failing to object to incomplete jury instructions and Daniels was prejudiced by it, we reverse his conviction for possession of or conspiracy to possess more than fifty grams of cocaine base with the intent to deliver.  We remand for new trial.