Case No. 22-1501

Frederick Lamont Babino
v.
State of Iowa

Appellant

Frederick Lamont Babino

Appellee

State of Iowa

Attorney for the Appellant

Gregory F. Greiner

Attorney for the Appellee

Genevieve Reinkoester, Assistant Attorney General

Court of Appeals

Court of Appeals Opinion

Summary

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Sarah Crane, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered by Greer, P.J., Ahlers, J., and Potterfield, S.J.  Opinion by Potterfield, S.J.  (10 pages)

            Frederick Babino appeals the denial of his third application for postconviction relief (PCR) following his convictions for first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in 2000.  Babino argues the district court should have granted his application because of newly discovered evidence that one of the jurors in his underlying criminal trial failed to admit knowing Babino’s co-defendants, suggesting implicit bias on the part of that juror.  The State responds that Babino’s application is time-barred because he failed to assert a new ground of fact that could not have been raised within the statute of limitations so we need not reach the merits of his substantive claim.  OPINION HOLDS: While Babino’s third PCR application was not time-barred, he failed to establish the underlying facts necessary to suggest implicit bias on the part of Juror 2.  Like the district court, we cannot say Babino has shown that a new trial is warranted.