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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 8-800 / 08-0652 Filed October 15, 2008

NANCY CARMENZA GALLOWAY, Applicant-Appellant, vs. STATE OF IOWA, Respondent-Appellee. ________________________________________________________________

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Scott D. Rosenberg, Judge.

Nancy Galloway appeals a ruling dismissing her application for postconviction relief. AFFIRMED.

Jeffrey Mains, Des Moines, for appellant. Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Mary Tabor, Assistant Attorney General, John P. Sarcone, County Attorney, and Susan Cox, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee State.

Considered by Sackett, C.J., and Miller and Potterfield, JJ.

2 POTTERFIELD, J. I. Background Facts and Proceedings On June 14, 2002, Nancy Galloway pled guilty to child endangerment in violation of Iowa Code section 726.6(1)(a) (2001). She received a deferred

judgment and was placed on informal probation for one year. She successfully completed and was discharged from her probation on December 19, 2002. On November 27, 2007, Galloway applied for postconviction relief from the June 14, 2002 deferred judgment entry, claiming that her counsel was ineffective in allowing her to enter a guilty plea. The State filed a motion to dismiss the

postconviction relief action alleging, among other things, that the district court lacked jurisdiction to consider the matter because postconviction relief does not apply to deferred judgments.1 The district court dismissed the postconviction relief application, concluding that Galloway's deferred judgment allowed her to escape both an adjudication of guilt and the imposition of a sentence, barring her application for postconviction relief. Galloway appeals arguing that a deferred judgment fits within the language of the Uniform Postconviction Procedure Act. II. Standard of Review We review the dismissal of an application for postconviction relief to correct errors of law. Brown v. State, 589 N.W.2d 273, 274 (Iowa Ct. App.1998). When the applicant alleges the denial of a constitutional right, our review is de novo. McLaughlin v. State, 533 N.W.2d 546, 547 (Iowa 1995).
1

The State also argued that Galloway's application should be dismissed because it was filed beyond the three-year statute of limitations established by Iowa Code section 822.3 (2007). The district court did not address this argument because it found that Galloway was barred from pursuing an action for postconviction relief on other grounds. We decline to address the argument for the same reasons.

3 III. Merits The Uniform Postconviction Procedure Act states that it is applicable to anyone "who has been convicted of, or sentenced for, a public offense." Iowa Code

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