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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 1-749 / 10-1952 Filed November 9, 2011

STATE OF IOWA, Plaintiff-Appellee, vs. TRACEY RICHTER ROBERTS, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________________________________________________

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clay County, Patrick M. Carr, Judge.

Tracey Richter Roberts appeals from her conviction for perjury. AFFIRMED.

John C. Heinicke of Kragnes & Associates, P.C., Des Moines, for appellant. Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Jean C. Pettinger, Assistant Attorney General, Michael J. Houchins, County Attorney, for appellee.

Considered by Vogel, P.J., and Potterfield and Danilson, JJ.

2 POTTERFIELD, J. Tracey Richter Roberts appeals from her conviction for perjury under Iowa Code section 327.217 (2007). We affirm the conviction because (1) substantial evidence exists from which a jury could find Roberts knew her statement of name change was false; (2) defendant has failed to prove trial counsel was ineffective; (3) the court did not err in not submitting the law as jury interrogatories; and (4) the motion for new trial was not timely filed. I. Background Facts and Proceedings. A rational jury could have found the following facts: Tracey Richter Roberts applied for a duplicate driver`s license and name change on February 19, 2008, claiming she had lost her old license and also that she wished to change her name on the driver`s license. Roberts filled out an Iowa Department of Transportation form stating as follows: I hereby state that my name has been, and I have been known as: Tracey Ann Richter and I hereby state that I have legally changed my name to: Sophie Corrina Terese Baronin von Richterhausen Edwards and I will hereby use this new name exclusively. I further state that such name change is not made for fraudulent purposes. At the bottom of the affidavit and just above Roberts`s signature appears the following: I certify under penalty of perjury and pursuant to the laws of the State of Iowa that the proceeding is true and correct. As documentation for the name change, Roberts presented a file-stamped divorce decree signed by a judge ordering that Tracey Richter Roberts . . . may

3 resume use of her maiden name Sophie Corrina Terese Baronin von Richterhausen Edwards.1 A later investigation showed that Roberts`s divorce decree did not contain the order for a name change quoted above. During a search of Roberts`s

Omaha, Nebraska apartment, police found a document purporting to be a dissolution decree with the added language and the judge`s signature taped to the bottom of an altered page. The search also yielded the earlier issued driver`s license Roberts claimed to have lost. Roberts was tried and convicted of perjury pursuant to Iowa Code section 327.217, and she now appeals. II. Discussion. A person who applies for a new driver`s license . . . or a duplicate license or card to replace one that is lost or destroyed shall submit proof of age, identity and social security number. Iowa Admin. Code r. 761-601.5. Subsection three of that rule is applicable to name changes and reads: The name listed on the license or nonoperator`s identification card that is issued shall be identical to the name contained on the primary document submitted unless the applicant submits an affidavit of name change on Form 430043.[2] The affidavit must be accompanied by one of the following documents: a. Court-ordered name change. It must contain the full name, date of birth, and court seal. b. Divorce decree. c. Marriage license or certificate.
1

In 2005, Roberts had signed a DOT application for name change from Tracey Richter Roberts to Tracey Anne Richter, referencing a court order from the same court file. 2 There is no explanation for the difference in Form number used in the regulation and used in this caseForm 430052, which contains both and Affidavit and Agreement For Issuance of Duplicate License/ID and Affidavit of Name Change Application.

4 This rule is intended to implement Iowa Code sections 321.182 and 321.189. It is a serious misdemeanor to [u]se a false or fictitious name in any application for a driver`s license or nonoperator`s identification card or to knowingly make a false statement or knowingly conceal a material fact or otherwise commit fraud on an application. Iowa Code

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