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Case No. 18-1149

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:
18-1149
Date Published:
Jun 05, 2019
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.

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