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Case No. 18-1737

For summaries from opinions prior to August, 2018, view PDF versions here

State of Iowa
v.
Mario Goodson

Mario Goodson seeks further review of the court of appeals decision affirming his convictions for first-degree burglary, operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent, domestic abuse assault causing bodily injury, and third-degree sexual abuse. The court of appeals vacated his sentence in part and remanded for resentencing. The court of appeals determined the district court did not err in admitting evidence of Goodson’s prior bad acts, he did not preserve error regarding his argument that the trial judge should have recused himself from the hearing on his motion for a new trial, and his conviction of third-degree sexual abuse does not merge into his conviction of first-degree burglary on the basis the court believed the legislature intended separate punishments for the convictions. The court of appeals vacated the part of the sentence that specified the duration of his sex-offender registry obligation.

County:
Black Hawk

Resister

State of Iowa

Applicant

Mario Goodson

Attorney for the Resister

Louis S. Sloven

Attorney for the Applicant

Vidhya K. Reddy

Supreme Court

Oral Argument Schedule

Non-Oral

Nov 18, 2020 9:00 AM

Briefs

Supreme Court Opinion

Opinion Number:
18-1737
Date Published:
Apr 30, 2021
Date Amended:
Jul 01, 2021

Court of Appeals

Court of Appeals Opinion

Opinion Number:
18-1737
Date Published:
Jul 01, 2020
Summary

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, Joel Dalrymple, Linda M. Fangman, and George L. Stigler, Judges.  CONVICTIONS AFFIRMED, SENTENCE VACATED IN PART, AND REMANDED FOR RESENTENCING.  Heard by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and May, JJ.  Opinion by May, J. (20 pages)

            Mario Goodson appeals his convictions and sentence.  He now appeals raising multiple arguments, including: (1) bad-acts evidence was improperly admitted; (2) the trial judge should have recused himself from the trial and the hearings on the post-trial motions; (3) the first-degree burglary and third-degree sexual abuse offenses should merge; and (4) his sentence is illegal because it specifies a duration for sex-offender-registry obligations.  OPINION HOLDS: We affirm the convictions and find (1) the bad-acts evidence was admissible, (2) Goodson did not preserve error on the recusal claims, and (3) because we believe the legislature intended separate punishments for first-degree burglary and third-degree sexual assault, we find merger was not appropriate.  (4) But we do vacate Goodson’s sentence in part and remanded for resentencing.

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