Published opinions from 2010. The case name opens the case page.
December 17, 20102010 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 131
On de novo review, the court concluded that clear and convincing evidence established statutory grounds to terminate the mother’s parental rights and that termination served the child’s best interests.
October 29, 20102010 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 107
The court held that the district court properly instructed the jury on felony murder because the evidence supported two separate acts: blunt-force trauma constituting willful injury causing serious injury and a later act of strangulation, choking, or drowning causing death.
The court held that domestic-abuse assault under Iowa law includes a specific-intent element, so the trial court erred by giving only a general-intent instruction. Because the incomplete record did not reveal the prosecution's theory or defense strategy, the court could not determine whether counsel's failure to…
The court held that competency-to-stand-trial determinations must be reviewed de novo because they implicate constitutional due process rights, but concluded that Johnson failed to prove incompetency by a preponderance of the evidence.
January 29, 2010778 N.W.2d 33
The court vacated the court of appeals’ decision and affirmed the juvenile court’s termination of the father’s parental rights. It clarified that Iowa’s termination statute requires courts to evaluate statutory grounds, the child-centered factors in section 232.116(2), and any exception in section 232.116(3), and that…