Wyatt Johnson
v.
State of Iowa
Appellant
Wyatt Johnson
Appellee
State of Iowa
Attorney for the Appellant
Tiffany Kragnes
Attorney for the Appellee
Martha E. Trout, Assistant Attorney General
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, David P. Odekirk, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Greer and Ahlers, JJ. Opinion by Greer, J. (5 pages)
Wyatt Johnson appeals the dismissal of his second application for postconviction relief (PCR). He contends the district court was wrong to summarily dismiss his application as time-barred, arguing Schmidt v. State, 909 N.W.2d 778 (Iowa 2018), is a new ground of law that allows him to raise the claim he is actually innocent of the 2009 murder to which he pled guilty outside the three-year statute of limitations for PCR actions. In the alternative, he argues he received ineffective assistance from his PCR counsel. OPINION HOLDS: Because Johnson’s claim of actual innocence is not based on a newly discovered fact that could not have been discovered within the three-year statute of limitations, the district court was correct to dismiss his application as time-barred. Johnson failed to prove he suffered prejudice from PCR counsel’s alleged breach, so his claim of ineffective assistance fails. We affirm.
