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Case No. 23-1891

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

State of Iowa
v.
Garret James Wassom

Appellee

State of Iowa

Appellant

Garret James Wassom

Attorney for the Appellee

Sheryl Soich, Assistant Attorney General

Attorney for the Appellant

Jack Bjornstad

Court of Appeals

Court of Appeals Opinion

Opinion Number:
23-1891
Date Published:
Oct 30, 2024
Summary

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clay County, Andrew Smith, Judge.  APPEAL DISMISSED IN PART AND AFFIRMED IN PART.  Considered by Schumacher, P.J., and Buller and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Langholz, J. (7 pages)

            Garret Wassom directly appeals three misdemeanor convictions, challenging whether five exhibits were improperly excluded from trial.  OPINION HOLDS: Wassom has no right to directly appeal his two simple misdemeanor convictions.  And even treating his filings here as an application for discretionary review, Wassom received substantial justice, so we deny discretionary review and dismiss his appeals from the simple assault convictions for lack of jurisdiction.  Wassom failed to preserve error on his constitutional evidentiary arguments challenging the third conviction.  And the district court did not abuse its discretion when excluding the exhibits as irrelevant—that the victim may have briefly interacted with Wassom two, five, or eight months after the event does not make any material fact relating to false imprisonment more or less probable. 

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