State of Iowa
v.
Barbara Lee Pasa
Appellee
State of Iowa
Appellant
Barbara Lee Pasa
Attorney for the Appellee
Benjamin Parrott, Assistant Attorney General
Attorney for the Appellant
Christopher A. Clausen
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Monroe County, Shawn Showers, Judge. CONVICTIONS AFFIRMED; SENTENCES AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED. Heard by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Greer and Schumacher. JJ. Opinion by Greer, J. (26 pages)
Barbara Pasa appeals her convictions for first-degree murder and first-degree arson, arguing the jury verdict is not supported by sufficient evidence and the district abused its discretion in declining to find the verdict to be contrary to the weight of the evidence. She also raises a sentencing error and claims ineffective assistance of her trial counsel. OPINION HOLDS: We affirm Barbara’s convictions for first-degree murder and first-degree arson. We remand for entrance of an order eliminating the mandatory minimum portion of her sentence requiring her to serve 70% of her arson sentence before eligibility for parole or work release. We preserve Barbara’s ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims for future postconviction-relief proceedings.
