Jason Mathew Curtis
v.
State of Iowa
Appellee
Jason Mathew Curtis
Appellant
State of Iowa
Attorneys for the Appellee
Tricia J. Bushnell
John C. Aisenbrey
Ashley M. Crisafulli
Attorney for the Appellant
Louis S. Sloven, Assistant Attorney General
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Pottawattamie County, Terry Rickers, Judge. REVERSED AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS ON APPEAL; AFFIRMED ON CROSS-APPEAL. Heard by Greer, P.J., and Ahlers and Badding, JJ. Opinion by Badding, J. (25 pages)
The State appeals a district court finding of ineffective assistance of counsel. Postconviction-relief applicant Jason Curtis cross-appeals, asserting the district court incorrectly decided his claims of actual innocence and prosecutorial misconduct. OPINION HOLDS: We reverse the district court’s ruling on the State’s appeal, finding that Curtis did not meet his burden to prove a breach of duty on the ineffective-assistance claim upon which he was granted relief. We remand for the district court to consider the remaining ineffective-assistance claims it did not previously address. We affirm on Curtis’s cross-appeal, finding the court properly rejected his claims of actual innocence and a due process violation based on prosecutorial misconduct.
