Knox v. State

532 N.W.2d 149, 1995 Iowa App. LEXIS 28, 1995 WL 294591
CourtCourt of Appeals of Iowa
DecidedFebruary 28, 1995
DocketNo. 93-1770
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 532 N.W.2d 149 (Knox v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Knox v. State, 532 N.W.2d 149, 1995 Iowa App. LEXIS 28, 1995 WL 294591 (iowactapp 1995).

Opinion

SACKETT, Judge.

This is an appeal from the trial court’s denial of postconviction relief to applicant-appellant John Albert Knox, Jr. Knox contends: (1) the State failed to disclose exculpatory evidence; (2) the State acted in bad faith in dismissing an earlier charge in violation of his right to a speedy trial; and (3) his appellate counsel was not effective because he failed to preserve the issue of the jury foreman’s alleged racial bias. We affirm.

In the late night of June 2, or the early morning of June 3, 1987, Elsie Gillam was stabbed in her bed. Elsie died several hours later in a hospital as a result of the stab wounds. On June 19, 1987, sixteen days after Elsie’s death, the State, by a county attorney’s information, charged Knox with sexual abuse in the first degree in violation of Iowa Code sections 709.1(1) and 709.2 (1987), and murder in the first degree in violation of Iowa Code sections 708.1 and 707.2 (1987). The crimes were allegedly committed by Knox on Elsie.

Knox filed a conditional waiver of a speedy trial until October 13, 1987, and later waived speedy trial until November 17, 1987. Trial was scheduled to commence on November 17; however, on November 12, 1987, five days before trial, the State filed a motion to dismiss. The motion was sustained.

On February 4, 1988, the grand jury rein-dicted Knox for the crimes of murder in the first degree and sexual abuse in the first degree, the same crimes he had been charged with earlier. He was tried starting on May 19,1988. On June 8,1988, a mistrial was declared after the jury became deadlocked and could not reach a verdict. He was retried on November 2, 1988, and convicted of murder in the first degree in violation of Iowa Code sections 707.2(1), (2), and sexual abuse in the first degree in violation of Iowa Code sections 709.1(1) and 709.2 (1987).

Knox appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court raising, among other issues, a challenge to the dismissal of the original charge and a challenge to the jury. Knox’s conviction was affirmed. State v. Knox, 464 N.W.2d 445 (Iowa 1990).

Knox filed this petition for posteonviction relief. After a hearing, the district court found Knox’s claim was barred because he did not raise it on direct appeal. The district court found, even if the claim were to be considered, it was without merit because the “exculpatory evidence” he claimed the State failed to disclose was cumulative and there was no showing the State’s motion to dismiss the original charge was in “bad faith.” The district court found the Iowa Supreme Court had addressed the issue of bad faith adverse to Knox on direct appeal and Knox had presented no new evidence in the postconviction relief proceedings. Knox appeals.

Knox first contends the State, when it filed the motion to dismiss on November 12,1987, had exculpatory evidence concerning a bloody print on a sheet on Elsie’s bed at the time of the incident. Knox had filed an ongoing motion for production of exculpatory evidence and he contends the State did not make the evidence available to him prior to the November 12, 1987 motion to dismiss. Knox alleges he did not learn of the evidence until the trial on his petition for postconviction relief. He contends this supports a finding the State’s November 12, 1987 motion was filed in bad faith, and he should not have been retried.

The State contends Knox is barred from resisting the issue in a postconviction relief proceeding because he could have raised it on direct appeal; the State was not obligated to disclose the challenged evidence; and Knox has not shown the required prejudice to succeed on this issue.

We first address the issue of whether Knox should have raised this issue earlier. The trial court found Knox should have raised it on direct appeal. Knox advances he could not have raised the issue earlier because the first time he learned of the evidence was in the hearing on his application for postconviction relief. The State argues, in its brief on this appeal, Knox knew or should have known the facts at the time of his direct appeal.

To adequately address this issue, we focus on the events that occurred within the several months preceding the time the State filed [151]*151its November 12, 1987 motion to dismiss the original ease.

In August or September of 1987, the State discovered what looked to be a print on the sheet that had been on Elsie’s bed. John Kilgore, a DCI laboratory analyst, reported the print was a “palm print” suitable for identification. Kilgore determined the palm print was not made by a number of persons, including Knox1 and the victim. Kilgore reduced this information to a written report on September 15, 1987. In late October, Reed, of the Marshalltown Police Department, took the sheet to Arkansas to be examined by Ralph Turbyfill. Reed was in Arkansas with Turbyfill for three days and, when he left, Turbyfill told Reed it was his opinion the print was a left palm print. No written report was made by Turbyfill at that time. Turbyfill was to testify at Knox’s trial it was his opinion it was totally possible this impression was made by both a hand and a foot and was not identifiable, contrary to his initial opinion.

Knox first learned of the print when the State filed a notice of additional testimony on November 6, 1987, and attached a copy of Kilgore’s report. No mention was made of Reed’s consultation with Turbyfill or of Tur-byfill’s opinion which, at that time, was the print was identifiable as a left palm print.

The State obtained a copy of Knox’s footprint on November 10, 1987, and, on the same day, Reed made a written report the print on the sheet was not Knox’s footprint. Apparently, at this point, the State decided to dismiss the case.

The first Knox learned the State was to dismiss the ease was when Bill Springer, Knox’s attorney at the time, was called by the Marshall County Attorney about five minutes to twelve o’clock noon on November 12, 1987, at his Marshalltown office. She told Springer there was a hearing scheduled on the State’s motion to dismiss at 3:30 that afternoon before Judge Cady in Fort Dodge. Fort Dodge and Marshalltown are about ninety-six miles apart. Not until 1:27 p.m. on November 12, was a notice of additional testimony filed with the Marshall County clerk attaching the report of the Marshall-town Police Department that the print of the sheet was not of Knox’s foot. The report had been prepared two days earlier.2 The filing made no reference to the Turbyfill consultation or his opinion.

Neither Knox nor Springer had been told of the Turbyfill consultation and opinion before or during the hearing on the motion to dismiss on November 12, 1987. Apparently, Turbyfill had prepared a written report on November 12, but it had not been received by the State. Springer testified at the post-conviction hearing that when he arrived at the courthouse in Fort Dodge, he had not had an opportunity to prepare for the hearing or research the meaning of the motion. He testified he only had ten minutes to visit with his client and advise him of his doubts of the possibility of a valid reindictment. Springer testified, on the information available to them, Knox agreed to the dismissal.

Knox contends the first time he learned of the October Turbyfill consultation and opinion was when, at the postconviction relief hearing, Reed testified as follows:

Q.

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Related

Grissom v. State
572 N.W.2d 183 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1997)

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Bluebook (online)
532 N.W.2d 149, 1995 Iowa App. LEXIS 28, 1995 WL 294591, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/knox-v-state-iowactapp-1995.