State of Iowa
v.
Breack Allen Bradford
Appellee
State of Iowa
Appellant
Breack Allen Bradford
Attorney for the Appellee
Nicholas E. Siefert (argued), Assistant Attorney General
Attorney for the Appellant
Erin M. Carr (argued)
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for WARREN County, Thomas P. Murphy, Judge. AFFIRMED. Heard at oral argument by Schumacher, P.J., and Badding and Langholz, JJ. Opinion by Badding, J. (15 pages)
Breack Bradford appeals his conviction for second-degree sexual abuse. He challenges (1) the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction, (2) the constitutionality of Iowa Code section 622.31B (Supp. 2022), which permitted the admission of a child protective worker’s testimony regarding the child victim’s out-of-court statements, and (3) the district court’s decision to exclude him from the courtroom during the child’s testimony under Iowa Code section 915.38. OPINION HOLDS: We affirm Bradford’s conviction for second-degree sexual abuse, finding substantial evidence supported the jury’s guilty verdict. We reject Bradford’s constitutional challenge to section 622.31B, finding that the State satisfied the statute’s reliability requirement. The court also finds that the State met both the statutory and constitutional requirements, allowing the minor victim to testify outside Bradford’s presence.
