State of Iowa
v.
James Deyo Robinson, Jr.
Appellee
State of Iowa
Appellant
James Deyo Robinson, Jr.
Attorney for the Appellee
Genevieve Reinkoester, Assistant Attorney General
Attorney for the Appellant
Mary Lynn Wolfe
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Jeffrey D. Farrell, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Greer and Badding, JJ. Opinion by Greer, J. (21 pages)
A jury convicted James Robinson Jr. of burglary in the first degree, willful injury causing serious injury, first-degree harassment, and false imprisonment. Robinson, who represented himself at trial, appeals. He (1) raises a fair cross-section challenge to his jury pool; (2) argues he was neither competent to stand trial nor waive his right to counsel and represent himself; (3) maintains the district court abused its discretion in denying his motion to strike a potential juror for cause; and (4) contends a jury instruction contained a prejudicial error, which he asks us to review after adopting a plain error standard for self-represented defendants. OPINION HOLDS: Robinson waived his fair cross-section challenge when he acquiesced to the remedy provided to him by the district court, and his claims of ineffective assistance fail. Robinson did not prove he was prejudiced by the court’s denial of his motion to strike a juror for cause, so that claim also fails. And, finally, we are not at liberty to use plain error review to consider Robinson’s claim about a flawed jury instruction. We affirm Robinson’s convictions.
