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State of Iowa
v.
Dwight Charles Evans
Appellee
State of Iowa
Appellant
Dwight Charles Evans
Attorney for the Appellee
Joseph D. Ferrentino, Assistant Attorney General
Attorney for the Appellant
Karmen Anderson
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Jeffrey L. Poulson and Roger L. Sailer, Judges. AFFIRMED. Heard by Greer, P.J., and Ahlers and Badding, JJ. Opinion by Greer, P.J. (24 pages)
A jury found Dwight Evans guilty of first-degree murder and going armed with intent following the shooting death of Martez Harrison. Evans, who was seventeen at the time of the shooting, was later sentenced to life imprisonment with the eligibility for parole after twenty years. On appeal, he argues (1) the district court erred in admitting the recording of a jail phone call as non-hearsay by co-conspirators because there was insufficient evidence that Evans was engaged in a conspiracy with them, (2) neither of his convictions is supported by substantial evidence, and (3) the district court abused its discretion in sentencing him to a mandatory minimum of twenty years before he becomes eligible for parole. OPINION HOLDS: Because the district court did not commit reversible error in admitting a recorded jail phone call that contained the conversation of Evans’s co-conspirators and substantial evidence supports each of his convictions, we affirm Evans’s convictions. And because the court neither considered inappropriate information nor abused its discretion in weighing the various factors allowed to be considered, we affirm Evans’s sentences.
