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State of Iowa
v.
Andrew Joseph Harrison
Appellee
State of Iowa
Appellant
Andrew Joseph Harrison
Attorney for the Appellee
Thomas J. Ogden, Assistant Attorney General
Attorney for the Appellant
Vidhya K. Reddy, Assistant Appellate Defender
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Paul D. Miller, Judge. AFFIRMED. Heard by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Schumacher and Ahlers, JJ. Opinion by Schumacher, J. (18 pages)
Andrew Harrison appeals his conviction for second-degree sexual abuse. He claims there is insufficient evidence to support his conviction. He claims the child victim’s out-of-court statements should have been excluded from trial because they were hearsay. He contends the court improperly denied his attempt to strike a juror for cause. He also asserts the court gave an improper jury instruction pertaining to the child’s absence from trial. Finally, he claims the court improperly allowed some statements from an expert witness. OPINION HOLDS: We find the conviction is supported by substantial evidence. The court properly admitted the child’s statements and denied Harrison’s motion to strike the juror for cause. Harrison did not preserve his objection to the challenged jury instruction. The expert testimony was admissible. We affirm.
