Michael Roach
v.
State of Iowa
Appellant
Michael Roach
Appellee
State of Iowa
Attorney for the Appellant
Jack Bjornstad
Attorney for the Appellee
Darrel Mullins, Assistant Attorney General
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, William P. Kelly, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Bower, C.J., and Greer and Badding, JJ. Opinion by Greer, J. (8 pages)
Michael Roach challenges the denial of his application for postconviction relief following his conviction of first-degree robbery and second-degree murder. Roach believes that a 2018 supreme court ruling, Schmidt v. State, 909 N.W.2d 778 (Iowa 2018), and the 2017-enacted “stand your ground” law, Iowa Code section 704.13, combine to create a new legal ground to claim actual innocence that was not available to him during the three-year statute of limitations for his PCR claims. OPINION HOLDS: As Iowa Code section 704.13 is not retroactive, it cannot work with the Schmidt holding to create a new legal ground. No other issues were preserved for our review. We affirm the denial of the PCR application.