State of Iowa
v.
Mark Daniel Mash
Appellee
State of Iowa
Appellant
Mark Daniel Mash
Attorney for the Appellee
Zachary Miller and Israel Kodiaga, Assistant Attorneys General
Attorney for the Appellant
Karmen Anderson
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dallas County, Michael Jacobsen, Judge. AFFIRMED. Heard by Tabor, P.J., Buller, J., and Doyle, S.J. Opinion by Doyle, S.J. (17 pages)
Mark Mash appeals after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a person convicted of domestic violence. He challenges the jury instructions, the denial of his motion for mistrial, and the admissibility of text message evidence. He also contends that his first-degree-murder conviction is unsupported by substantial evidence and contrary to the weight of the evidence. Finally, Mash contends trial counsel’s deficient representation rises to the level of structural error. In the alternative, he asks us to adopt a plain-error standard to reach the errors his counsel failed to preserve. OPINION HOLDS: We find no error in the jury instructions. Mash has not met his burden of showing the district court abused its discretion in denying a mistrial. The text messaging evidence was relevant to whether Mash was justified or acted with malice aforethought and did not unfairly prejudice him. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, we agree that the evidence is enough to convince a rational factfinder of Mash’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. This is not one of the exceptional cases in which the evidence preponderates heavily against the verdict. Mash fails to show the district court abused its discretion in denying his motion for new trial. We are prohibited by statute from considering the ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims on direct appeal. We cannot overrule precedent that rejects plain-error review.
