Preview:

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 3-187 / 12-1313 Filed March 27, 2013 STATE OF IOWA, Plaintiff-Appellee, vs. MORGAN ALEXANDER SHIELDS, Defendant-Appellant. _______________________________________________________________ Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Warren County, Peter A. Keller (plea) and Martha L. Mertz (sentencing), Judges.

Morgan Shields appeals the conviction following his guilty plea. SENTENCE VACATED AND REMANDED FOR RESENTENCING.

Mark C. Smith, State Appellate Defender, and Rachel C. Regenold, Assistant State Appellate Defender, for appellant. Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Jean C. Pettinger, Assistant Attorney General, and John Criswell, County Attorney, for appellee.

Considered by Eisenhauer, C.J., and Danilson and Bower, JJ.

2

DANILSON, J. Morgan Shields appeals the conviction entered following his guilty plea. He asserts a claim of ineffective assistance, alleging prejudice resulted after his counsel failed to object to the prosecutor's breach of a plea agreement.1 Because Shields suffered prejudice as a result of his counsel's failure, we vacate his sentence and remand for resentencing. I. Background Facts and Proceedings. On May 2, 2012, Shields entered a guilty plea to the charge of burglary in the second degree, in violation of Iowa Code section 713.5 (2011). His plea was entered pursuant to an agreement with the State, which called for the prosecutor to recommend a suspended sentence and probation. conducted a full colloquy and accepted Shields' plea. A sentencing hearing was held on June 18, 2012. The prosecutor recited the terms of the plea agreement, but contrary to the agreement, the prosecutor made no affirmative recommendation to the court. Shields' counsel did not The district court

object. The court made no specific request for recommendations, declined to follow the plea agreement and sentenced Shields to an indeterminate term of imprisonment not to exceed ten years. On appeal, Shield alleges ineffective assistance of counsel and seeks remand for a new sentencing hearing to require the prosecutor to fulfill the terms of the plea agreement.

1

The State concedes that the prosecutor's failure to affirmatively recommend the plea agreement resulted in a breach. Thus, the only issue on appeal is whether the breach of an essential duty prejudiced Shields.

3

II.

Standard of Review. We review ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims de novo. State v.

Maxwell, 743 N.W.2d 185, 189 (Iowa 2008); see also State v. Fountain, 786 N.W.2d 260, 263 (Iowa 2010) ("Ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims are an exception to the traditional error-preservation rules."). We generally preserve ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims for postconviction relief proceedings. State v. Utter, 803 N.W.2d 647, 651 (Iowa 2011). However, when the record is adequate, we consider ineffective-assistance claims on direct appeal. State v. Fannon, 799 N.W.2d 515, 519-20 (Iowa 2011); see also Iowa Code

Download 3-187.pdf

Iowa Law