State of Iowa
v.
James Russell Ellis
Appellee
State of Iowa
Appellant
James Russell Ellis
Attorney for the Appellee
Timothy M. Hau, Assistant Attorney General
Attorney for the Appellant
Rachel C. Regenold, Assistant Appellate Defender
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Plymouth County, Patrick H. Tott, Judge. REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR NEW TRIAL. Considered by Greer, P.J., and Ahlers and Badding, JJ. Opinion by Ahlers, J. Partial Dissent by Greer, P.J. (21 pages)
James Ellis appeals his conviction for willfully failing to appear. He contends the evidence presented was insufficient to support his conviction and challenges the admission of a court order as an exhibit. OPINION HOLDS: The evidence was sufficient to support the conviction, but the district court erroneously admitted as an exhibit the court order containing factual findings. The admission was not harmless. We reverse Ellis’s conviction and remand for a new trial. PARTIAL DISSENT ASSERTS: While I agree with the majority that Ellis’s sufficiency-of-the-evidence challenge fails, I part ways on the evidentiary question. I would conclude Ellis failed to preserve error on the specific hearsay objection the majority considers on appeal. Even if the issue was preserved, I would rule the court order was admissible under an exception to the hearsay rule or, because the same evidence was admitted without objection, that any error was harmless.
