State v. Chadwick

328 N.W.2d 913, 1983 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 1394
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJanuary 19, 1983
DocketNo. 68113
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 328 N.W.2d 913 (State v. Chadwick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Chadwick, 328 N.W.2d 913, 1983 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 1394 (iowa 1983).

Opinion

McGIVERIN, Justice.

This is a direct appeal by defendant Charles N. Chadwick from conviction after jury trial of two counts of first-degree murder. Iowa Code § 707.2 (1981). Defendant contends that the following assigned errors require that he be given a new trial:

(1) trial court’s failure to sustain defendant’s motion for change of venue;
(2) prosecutorial misconduct;
(3) admission into evidence of photographs and a lead bullet core;
(4) the giving of a “flight” instruction to the jury; and
(5) overruling defendant’s motion for a new trial.

We find no reversible errors in those raised by defendant and affirm his convictions.

On the morning of September 16, 1981, Stanley Fisher, Jr., and his mother, Kate Fisher, were shot to death on a highway in Pottawattamie County. The shootings occurred in front of a rural Council Bluffs home while a witness, Connie Vanacek, and her three-year-old son were outside tending to their rabbits. Vanacek saw a red Toyota truck turn around in her driveway and shortly thereafter two sportscars pulled up; she heard shots and hid behind the rabbit hutches with her son. As soon as the Toyota truck pulled out of the driveway, Vana-cek called the authorities.

Immediately after Vanacek’s report was radioed to officers on patrol, an officer in an unmarked car observed a red Toyota truck heading away from the scene of the shootings. A high-speed chase ensued. In the course of the chase, the officer noticed what appeared to be a gun thrown out of the Toyota’s window. The truck ran a road block and successfully eluded police until cut off at an interstate highway entrance ramp, where shots were fired at the truck as it went by. Defendant, the driver of the truck, and a passenger, John Lee Hrbek, were arrested.

The Toyota truck and the victims’ cars were searched; no weapons were found in the cars, but several were found in the truck and a gun was found at the location where the pursuing officer had seen an object thrown from the truck. At the trial, no motive for the killings was shown.

I. Change of venue. Defendant’s trial was held shortly after Hrbek’s, and defendant contends that extensive media publicity following the arrest and during Hrbek’s trial necessitated a change of venue of his trial. Defendant so moved. After hearing, the court overruled defendant’s motion.

Our review is a de novo determination of whether the trial court abused its discretion by ruling, in substance, that defendant failed to demonstrate a “substantial likelihood” he would not receive a fair and impartial trial in Pottawattamie County. Iowa R.Crim.P. 10(9)(b); State v. Cornelius, 293 N.W.2d 267, 269 (Iowa 1980).

The entire record bearing on defendant’s motion consisted of defendant’s personal af[916]*916fidavit and the testimony of two local defense attorneys and a reporter for the Omaha World Herald newspaper. None of the allegedly prejudicial media accounts was introduced into the record.

From the witnesses’ testimony, it is apparent that none of the media accounts stated that defendant was guilty. Additionally, the two attorneys testified that they were unable to remember which facts they had gleaned from the media and which they had learned while discussing the case with the county attorney’s office and other defense lawyers. The record before us belies any assertions that defendant was “tried in the press.”

Voir dire examination of the jury was not court reported. A different jury panel was used for defendant’s trial than for Hrbek’s trial. The trial court observed that of thirty-five prospective jurors, seven were challenged for cause and excused. The court noted, however, that “only [two] of them were ... excused because of any prior knowledge of the situation or because they ... felt they had reached some mental conclusions that interfered with [their] ... being fair and impartial jurors.” Mere exposure to news accounts does not prove a substantial likelihood of prejudice. Id. Voir dire of prospective jurors should be trusted to expose any substantial prejudices among the jurors. See United States v. Lamb, 575 F.2d 1310, 1315 (10th Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Clary v. United States, 439 U.S. 854, 99 S.Ct. 165, 58 L.Ed.2d 160 (1978); United States v. Harris, 542 F.2d 1283, 1294-96 (7th Cir.1976) cert. denied sub nom. Clay v. United States, 430 U.S. 934, 97 S.Ct. 1558, 51 L.Ed.2d 779 (1977); State v. Marr, 316 N.W.2d 176, 181 (Iowa 1982).

We conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion in overruling defendant’s motion for change of venue.

II. Prosecutorial misconduct. Defendant points to two isolated and unrelated incidents which he contends deprived him of a fair trial: (1) the prosecutor allowed photographs, which had not been admitted into evidence, to lie uncovered on the prosecutor’s table; and (2) the prosecutor allegedly interrogated a defense witness improperly. We find no merit in these contentions.

Prosecutorial misconduct entitles a defendant to a new trial only when it appears to have been so prejudicial as to deprive defendant of a fair trial. State v. Williams, 315 N.W.2d 45, 55 (Iowa 1982). We will intervene only if the trial court abuses the broad discretion which it has to determine whether prejudice results. Id. On appeal, the defendant must be able to point to some unfairness which resulted in prejudice. See State v. Haskins, 316 N.W.2d 679, 681 (Iowa 1982).

Defendant cannot satisfy his burden. The incidents complained of were isolated ones and were corrected after objections were raised. Because the trial court has the opportunity to observe the matters complained of and ascertain their effect, if any, on the jury, it is in a better position than the appellate court to determine if prejudice resulted from the conduct of the prosecutor. Williams, 315 N.W.2d at 56. On the record before us, we conclude that even when considered collectively, these two incidents did not deprive defendant of a fair trial.

III. Prejudicial exhibits. The murders of Stanley and Kate Fisher were, by all accounts, “gruesome.” It follows, therefore, that much of the State’s evidence was also of an unpleasant nature. Defendant claims that the admission of two photographs of the victims at the scene of the murders and the admission of a lead bullet core were unduly prejudicial and lacking in probative value.

The test for admission of such evidence is two-fold: (1) the evidence must be relevant and (2) if the evidence is relevant the trial court must determine whether the probative value of the exhibits outweighs the prejudice which would be caused by [917]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State of Iowa v. Alison Elaine Dorsey
Supreme Court of Iowa, 2025
State of Iowa v. Jeffrey Lynn Winters
Court of Appeals of Iowa, 2021
State v. Wells
629 N.W.2d 346 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 2001)
Chadwick v. Graves
110 F. Supp. 2d 1110 (N.D. Iowa, 2000)
State v. Chadwick
586 N.W.2d 391 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1998)
State v. Farmer
492 N.W.2d 239 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1992)
State v. Dickerson
612 A.2d 769 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 1992)
Charles N. Chadwick v. State of Iowa
951 F.2d 863 (Eighth Circuit, 1992)
State v. Payton
481 N.W.2d 325 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1992)
State v. Glaus
455 N.W.2d 274 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1990)
State v. Montes
445 N.W.2d 407 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1989)
State v. Watts
441 N.W.2d 395 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1989)
State v. Bartnick
436 N.W.2d 647 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1988)
State v. Shipley
429 N.W.2d 567 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1988)
State v. Walters
426 N.W.2d 136 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1988)
State v. Wagner
410 N.W.2d 207 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1987)
State v. Misner
410 N.W.2d 216 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1987)
State v. Winemiller
411 N.W.2d 719 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1987)
State v. Nebinger
412 N.W.2d 180 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
328 N.W.2d 913, 1983 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 1394, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-chadwick-iowa-1983.