State of Iowa
v.
Chad Little
Appellee
State of Iowa
Appellant
Chad Little
Attorney for the Appellee
Sharon K. Hall, Assistant Attorney General
Attorney for the Appellant
Christopher J. Roth
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Joel A. Dalrymple, Judge. AFFIRMED. Heard by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Tabor and Ahlers, JJ. Opinion by Tabor, J. (26 pages)
Chad Little appeals his convictions for first-degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death. He asserts (1) the district court admitted improper character evidence; (2) the State offered insufficient proof that he committed the crimes; (3) the verdicts were against the weight of the evidence; and (4) his trial counsel was ineffective. OPINION HOLDS: On the first issue, we find no abuse of discretion in the admission of prior-bad-acts evidence because the probative value substantially outweighed the risk of unfair prejudice. On the sufficiency issue, we conclude substantial evidence supported the jury’s guilty verdict for both offenses. On the third issue, we find no abuse of discretion and affirm the denial of new trial. As for his ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims, we preserve two of them for possible postconviction proceedings and reject his third claim. Finding no grounds for reversal, we affirm the convictions.
