State of Iowa
v.
Nikolas A. Stephens
Appellee
State of Iowa
Appellant
Nikolas A. Stephens
Attorney for the Appellee
Louis S. Sloven, Assistant Attorney General
Attorney for the Appellant
David R. Johnson
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Hardin County, Kurt J. Stoebe, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Vogel, C.J., Bower, J., and Scott, S.J. Opinion by Scott, S.J. (7 pages)
Nikolas Stephens appeals his conviction of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, contending: (1) the court abused its discretion in excluding evidence the pedestrian victim was impaired by drugs or alcohol at the time of the collision, (2) the court erred in declining to provide instructions to the jury concerning the victim’s negligence, and (3) the court abused its discretion in admitting the content of a text message as evidence because it was irrelevant and prejudicial. OPINION HOLDS: Having found no abuse of discretion in the district court’s evidentiary rulings or legal error as to the claimed jury-instruction deficiencies, we affirm Stephens’s conviction of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death.