Opinion
No. 3-297 / 02-1240
Filed June 13, 2003
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, George Bergeson, Judge.
Allen appeals his convictions for assault with a weapon and criminal mischief, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence and arguing he is entitled to a new trial. AFFIRMED.
Linda Del Gallo, State Appellate Defender, and James Tomka, Assistant Appellate Defender, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Kevin Cmelik, Assistant Attorney General, John Sarcone, County Attorney, and John Judisch, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.
Considered by Mahan, P.J., and Miller and Vaitheswaran, JJ.
A jury found Jonathon Marc Allen guilty of assault with a weapon and criminal mischief for pursuing two high school girls through the downtown loop area of Des Moines and around the east side of the city in a vehicle. On appeal, Allen contends: 1) the district court erred in overruling his motion for judgment of acquittal based on insufficiency of the evidence or, in the alternative, defense counsel was ineffective in failing to preserve this issue, and 2) he is entitled to a new trial based on a juror's statement during deliberations. We affirm.
I. Sufficiency of the Evidence
Allen contends he was the victim of mistaken identity. The State responds that Allen failed to identify this issue in his motion for judgment of acquittal and, accordingly, failed to preserve error. See State v. Scalise, 660 N.W.2d 58, 62 (Iowa 2003). We agree with the State that error was not preserved, but believe this issue may be reviewed under an ineffective assistance of counsel rubric, as Allen requests. See State v. Button, 622 N.W.2d 480, 483 (Iowa 2001) (stating "[i]neffective assistance claims operate as an exception to our error preservation requirements.")
The State contends Allen waived his ineffective assistance of counsel claim by failing to cite authority in support of it. See State v. Adney, 639 N.W.2d 246, 250 (Iowa Ct.App. 2001). We believe his claim is sufficiently specific to apprise us of its nature . See State v. Crone, 545 N.W.2d 267, 271 n. 1 (Iowa 1996); cf. State v. White, 337 N.W.2d 517, 519 (Iowa 1983) (holding our court should be provided with enough information to assess a defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claims.)
Allen specifically claims counsel was ineffective in failing to move for judgment of acquittal on the ground the evidence was insufficient to prove he was the person who pursued the girls. We preserve this claim for postconviction relief. State v. Biddle, 652 N.W.2d 191, 203 (Iowa 2002).
II. New Trial Motion
After the jury rendered its verdict, Allen moved for a new trial. He maintained the jury was improperly influenced by a juror's statement that two members of his family were killed by a drunk driver. Allen contended that, as a result, the jury found him guilty of assault with a weapon rather than the lesser offense of assault. The district court rejected this argument. In light of our State's jurisprudence placing strict limits on the invasion of jury deliberations, we find no abuse of discretion in the court's ruling. See Ryan v. Arneson, 422 N.W.2d 491, 495 (Iowa 1988) (adopting federal rule, "which protects each of the components of deliberation including juror arguments, statements, discussions, mental and emotional reactions, votes, and any other feature of the process occurring in the jury room.") See also State v. Christianson, 337 N.W.2d 502, 505 (Iowa 1983) (holding juror's statement during deliberations in sexual abuse case that son had been sexually abused was protected discussion that could not be used to attack verdict and was nonprejudicial). Accord Meirick by Meirick v. Weinmeister, 461 N.W.2d 348, 350 (Iowa Ct.App. 1990).
There was evidence that Allen had been drinking heavily all evening.