State of Iowa
v.
Steve Armsted
Appellee
State of Iowa
Appellant
Steve Armsted
Attorney for the Appellee
Linda J. Hines, Assistant Attorney General
Attorney for the Appellant
Scott M. Wadding
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clinton County, John Telleen, Judge. CONDITIONALLY AFFIRMED AND REMANDED. Heard by May, P.J., and Greer and Schumacher, JJ. Opinion by May, P.J. Special Concurrence by Greer, J. (18 pages)
Steve Armsted appeals his convictions for first-degree murder. He argues: (1) insufficient evidence supported his first-degree murder convictions, (2) the district court abused its discretion by admitting autopsy photographs, and (3) the racial composition of the jury pool violated his constitutional right to a jury drawn from a fair cross-section of the community. OPINION HOLDS: Sufficient evidence supported Armsted’s murder convictions. The district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting autopsy photographs. But we conclude Armsted should have an additional opportunity to develop his fair cross-section claim. So we conditionally affirm and remand. SPECIAL CONCURRENCE ASSERTS: I concur in the majority opinion because of the concession by the State, but I write to highlight the practical dilemma playing out in cases across our state where a fair cross-section challenge is raised.
