State of Iowa v. Justin Lamont Wright

• Court: Court of Appeals of Iowa
• Decided: January 9, 2025
• Docket: 23-0968
• Status: Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA

No. 23-0968 Filed January 9, 2025

STATE OF IOWA, Plaintiff-Appellee,

vs.

JUSTIN LAMONT WRIGHT, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________________________________________________

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Tamara Roberts,

Judge.

Justin Lamont Wright appeals his conviction for first-degree murder.

APPEAL DISMISSED.

Mark C. Meyer, Iowa City, for appellant.

Brenna Bird, Attorney General, and Joseph D. Ferrentino, Assistant

Attorney General, for appellee.

Considered by Schumacher, P.J., and Badding and Chicchelly, JJ. 2

CHICCHELLY, Judge.

Justin Lamont Wright appeals his conviction for first-degree murder.

Because we lack authority to hear this appeal, we must dismiss.

The State charged Wright with first-degree murder after he shot his

girlfriend. A jury convicted him as charged, and Wright appeals.

Wright attempts to put forth an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim thinly

disguised as a “structural error” argument. But we are not permitted to decide such

claims on direct appeal. See Iowa Code § 814.7 (2023) (requiring defendants

claiming ineffective assistance to apply for postconviction relief under

chapter 822); State v. Treptow, 960 N.W.2d 98, 110 (Iowa 2021) (concluding

appellate courts have “no authority to decide a claim of ineffective assistance of

counsel on direct appeal”). Because we cannot “provide [Wright] with relief,” we

lack jurisdiction to hear this appeal and must dismiss. Treptow, 960 N.W.2d

at 110.