State v. Smith

Procedural entryThis page is a short order in State v. Smith. Read the opinion of the Court — 895 N.W.2d 922
Court of Appeals of Iowa·Decided December 6, 2017·No. 16-0533·Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA

No. 16-0533 Filed December 6, 2017

STATE OF IOWA, Plaintiff-Appellee,

vs.

MARTEZ DEROY SMITH, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________________________________________________

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Black Hawk County, George L.

Stigler, Judge.

A defendant challenges his convictions and sentences. AFFIRMED.

Mark C. Smith, State Appellate Defender, and Theresa R. Wilson, Assistant

Appellate Defender, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Sharon K. Hall, Assistant Attorney

General, for appellee.

Heard by Danilson, C.J., Mullins, J., and Carr, S.J.*

*Senior judge assigned by order pursuant to Iowa Code section 602.9206

(2017). 2

CARR, Senior Judge.

Martez Smith appeals from his convictions and sentences for murder in the

first degree, in violation of Iowa Code sections 707.2(1), 902.1(1), and 910.3B(1)

(2015), and domestic abuse assault, in violation of section 708.2A(2)(a). On

appeal, he contends (1) he received ineffective assistance of counsel when his

counsel failed to move for dismissal as a result of a speedy-indictment violation,

(2) he received ineffective assistance of counsel when counsel failed to object to

prosecutorial misconduct, (3) the trial court abused its discretion in admitting

certain evidence, and (4) the trial court abused its discretion in denying counsel

access to a police officer’s disciplinary records. He also raises three pro se claims:

that an instruction was improper, that he received ineffective assistance when

counsel abandoned two potential defenses, and that his due process rights were

violated by the cumulative effect of certain alleged errors.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings

On November 25, 2014, Shawonyta Norman visited his sister, Latres

Johnson, at the home she shared with her boyfriend Martez Smith. At one point

in the afternoon, Johnson was putting up a baby gate to confine her two dogs when

Smith yelled at her and pushed her into the baby gate. She fell into the gate,

breaking it, and sustaining cuts on her ankle, arm, and neck. Soon afterwards,

Norman told Smith to stop fighting and to stop speaking to his sister in the insulting

language Smith had been using. The situation between Smith and Norman,

however, appeared to calm down, as the men later briefly hugged.

Smith then went to the basement. When he returned, he asked Norman to

join him outside. Within ten minutes, Johnson thought she observed “scuffling” 3

outside and went to check on the two men. Norman was by then coming up steps

to the house and saying “he stabbed me” and “I’m not going to make it.” Johnson

helped Norman inside. She slammed the door shut and locked it. She called 911.

Paramedics arrived and performed CPR before transporting Norman to a nearby

medical center. Norman was pronounced dead roughly an hour later.

Smith was arrested soon thereafter. On November 26, he appeared before

a magistrate and was charged with domestic abuse assault causing bodily injury.

On January 29, 2015, an arrest warrant issued against Smith for the crime of first-

degree murder. He was arrested in jail and charged with murder.

The case eventually proceeded to a jury trial. Following trial, Smith was

found guilty of domestic abuse assault and of first-degree murder. Smith was

sentenced to life without the possibility of parole on the murder charge and to five

years with a mandatory minimum sentence of one year on the assault charge. The

two sentences were ordered to run consecutively. Smith was also assessed costs,

a fine, and a restitution payment. He now appeals.

II. Standard of Review

The right to effective assistance of counsel finds its moorings in the Sixth

Amendment. State v. Clay, 824 N.W.2d 488, 494 (Iowa 2012); see U.S. Const.

amend. VI. When a defendant asserts a constitutional violation, our review is de

novo. See Taylor v. State, 352 N.W.2d 683, 684 (Iowa 1984).

Evidentiary rulings are reviewed for an abuse of discretion. See State v.

Buenaventura, 660 N.W.2d 38, 50 (Iowa 2003).

III. Analysis

A. Speedy Indictment 4

Smith claims he received ineffective assistance of counsel when trial

counsel failed to move for dismissal of Smith’s murder charge for a speedy-

indictment violation.

Ineffective assistance of counsel “is deficient performance by counsel

resulting in prejudice, with performance being measured against an ‘objective

standard of reasonableness,’ ‘under prevailing professional norms.’” Rompilla v.

Beard, 545 U.S. 374, 380 (2005) (citations omitted). “[W]e measure counsel’s

performance against the standard of a reasonably competent practitioner.” State

v. Maxwell, 743 N.W.2d 185, 195 (Iowa 2008). Prejudice exists if there is “a

reasonable probability that, but for the counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result

of the proceeding would have been different.” Id. at 196. “A defendant’s inability

to prove either element is fatal.” State v. Graves, 668 N.W.2d 860, 869 (Iowa

2003).

The incident that led to Smith’s arrests and convictions occurred on

November 25, 2014. He was arrested for domestic abuse assault by November

26. A criminal complaint charging Smith with murder was filed on January 29,

2015. A trial information on the murder charge was filed on February 9.

The speedy-indictment rule requires that Smith be indicted for a charge

within forty-five days of his arrest. See Iowa Ct. R. 2.33(2)(a). Smith effectively

raises two questions: (1) does his arrest for domestic abuse assault qualify as an

arrest on his murder charge, and (2) if not, when was he arrested for murder? Two

recent cases have answered these questions definitively. In State v. Penn-

Kennedy, 862 N.W.2d 384, 390 (Iowa 2015), our supreme court reiterated that the 5

speedy-indictment rule does not apply “to all offenses arising from the same

incident or episode.” The rule does not require a prosecution to commence “before

crucial evidence is available” on greater charges. Penn-Kennedy, 862 N.W.2d at

390; see also State v. Burton, 231 N.W.2d 577, 578 (Iowa 1975) (holding State is

not limited “to a single charge from one episode”). Thus, Smith’s arrest for

purposes of domestic abuse assault does not also necessarily count as his arrest

for murder.

Then, in State v. Williams, 895 N.W.2d 856, 865 (Iowa 2017), the supreme

court clarified that the speedy-indictment clock begins running when a defendant

is arrested and brought before a magistrate. Here, on the murder charge, that

occurred no earlier than January 29, 2015, and we can definitively say it did not

occur at the time of the arrest for domestic abuse assault because at that time

Smith was not taken into custody “in the manner authorized by law” on allegations

of murder. See Williams, 895 N.W.2d at 865–67. A trial information was filed on

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