Opinion
No. 3-427 / 02-0334
Filed July 10, 2003
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clinton County, David H. Sivright, Jr., Judge.
John Mohr appeals the district court's grant of the State's motion for summary judgment and the resulting dismissal of his second application for postconviction relief. AFFIRMED.
Philip Ramirez of Phil Ramirez, P.C., Rock Island, Illinois, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Robert Ewald, Assistant Attorney General, Michael Wolf, County Attorney, and James Kivi, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.
Considered by Mahan, P.J., and Miller and Vaitheswaran, JJ.
John Mohr appeals the district court's grant of the State's motion for summary judgment and the resulting dismissal of his second application for postconviction relief. He contends the district court erred in ruling he did not present evidence of material fact, not previously presented and heard, which would require the vacation of his conviction or sentence in the interest of justice. Mohr also attempts to reserve any and all potential issues of ineffective assistance of his postconviction relief counsel. We affirm.
I. BACKGROUND FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS.
In January 1997 a jury found Mohr guilty of second degree-murder in the "shaken baby" death of thirteen-month old Justin Witt. Mohr was sentenced to a term of imprisonment not to exceed fifty years. Mohr appealed his judgment and sentence. The conviction was affirmed on appeal and Mohr's claims of ineffective assistance preserved for possible postconviction relief (PCR) proceedings. State v. Mohr, No. 97-0349 (Iowa Ct.App. Feb. 25, 1998). In August 1998 Mohr filed his first PCR application contending the trial court erred in refusing to allow him to retain Dr. J.C. Showers as an expert witness and his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to (1) object to the autopsy photographs, (2) inquire into the qualifications of prospective juror Larry Schmidt, and (3) challenge juror Larry Schmidt for cause under what is now Iowa Rule of Criminal Procedure 2.18(5)( d).
The district court denied Mohr's application, finding juror Schmidt was related within five degree of consanguinity to the victim's mother and therefore Mohr's attorney was not ineffective for failing to challenge such juror for cause under what is now rule 2.18(5)( d) because he had no grounds to do so. The court further found trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to object to the autopsy photographs because they were relevant and their probative value outweighed any prejudice to Mohr. Finally, the court noted in its postconviction ruling that six days before trial the trial court did grant Mohr's request to hire Dr. Showers as an expert after determining an expert with similar expertise was unavailable. However, Mohr did not call Dr. Showers as a witness at trial and no record was made why Dr. Showers did not testify. The district court found Mohr failed to meet his burden to prove his counsel was ineffective on this issue, but even if trial counsel was assumed to have breached an essential duty Mohr had not established that but for counsel's error there was a reasonable probability the result of the trial would have been different.
Mohr appealed the district court's denial of his first PCR application. His appellate attorney filed a motion for permission to withdraw pursuant to what are now Iowa Rules of Appellate Procedure 6.33 and 6.104. Mohr received notice of the motion, but did not file a response. Accordingly, our supreme court dismissed Mohr's appeal as frivolous.
In March 2001 Mohr filed a second PCR application pro se, alleging generally the existence of newly discovered evidence. The State moved to summarily dismiss the application pursuant to Iowa Code section 822.8 (2001). Mohr was subsequently appointed PCR counsel and his counsel filed an amended postconviction application and a resistance to the State's motion for summary judgment. Mohr's second application for postconviction relief, as amended November 29, 2001, alleged (1) newly discovered evidence is available from Dr. John Plunkett on the issue of shaken baby syndrome, (2) the trial testimony of State's witness Mike Jones was fabricated, and (3) juror Larry Schmidt's kinship to the victim tainted the jury. The court granted the State's motion to summarily dismiss Mohr's PCR application, finding Mohr failed to raise any genuine issue of fact for trial. Mohr appeals from the court's ruling, contending the court erred in finding he did not present evidence of material fact, not previously presented and heard, which requires the vacation of the conviction or sentence in the interest of justice. II. SCOPE AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW.
Mohr does not challenge the court's ruling on the other two issues raised in his application and has thus waived appeal on those issues. See Iowa R.App.P. 6.14(1)( c) ("Failure in the brief to state . . . an issue may be deemed waiver of that issue."); Aluminum Co. of America v. Musal, 622 N.W.2d 476, 479 (Iowa 2001) (holding that issues not raised in the appellate briefs cannot be considered by the reviewing court).
"Postconviction proceedings are law actions ordinarily reviewed for errors of law. When summary judgment is granted in a postconviction relief action, we examine the record to determine if a genuine issue of material fact exists and whether the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Bugley v. State, 596 N.W.2d 893, 895 (Iowa 1999) (citations omitted).
III. MERITS.
Iowa Code section 822.6 provides that the court may grant a motion for summary disposition of a PCR application "when it appears from the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions and agreements of fact, together with any affidavits submitted, that there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Summary disposition under section 822.6 is analogous to the summary judgment procedure provided in our rules of civil procedure . Earnest v. State, 508 N.W.2d 630, 632 (Iowa 1993). Accordingly, the facts are viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing summary judgment. State v. Manning, 654 N.W.2d 555, 560 (Iowa 2002).
Mohr claims the district court erred in granting the State's motion for summary judgment. He contends that genuine issues of material fact exist regarding an "article" by Dr. John Plunkett about the criteria for diagnosis of "shaken baby syndrome." Mohr argues the "article" is newly discovered evidence which would rebut the State's theory of how Justin sustained his injuries.
Pursuant to section 822.2(4) a person may seek postconviction relief from his or her conviction if the person claims "[t]here exists evidence of material facts, not previously presented and heard, that requires vacation of the conviction or sentence in the interest of justice." We have interpreted section 822.2(4) to require the postconviction relief applicant to establish four elements before a new trial will be granted. Summage v. State, 579 N.W.2d 821, 822 (Iowa 1998). The applicant must show: (1) the evidence was discovered after judgment; (2) the evidence could not have been discovered earlier in the exercise of due diligence; (3) it is material to the issue, not merely cumulative or impeaching; and (4) it would probably change the result if a new trial is granted. Summage, 579 N.W.2d at 822; Grissom v. State, 572 N.W.2d 183, 184 (Iowa Ct.App. 1997).
Viewing the facts in a light most favorable to Mohr, we agree with the district court's conclusion that Mohr failed to set forth facts showing there is a genuine issue for trial. We agree with the court that Mohr failed to show Dr. Plunkett's "article," which in fact was just a letter submitted to the American Journal of Forsensic Medicine and Pathology, could not have been discovered earlier through the exercise of due diligence, and thus it is not "newly discovered evidence." Dr. Plunkett's letter was "submitted" in the spring of 1998. Mohr filed his first PCR application in August 1998 and hearing on the application was held in July 1999. Therefore, although this evidence was available only shortly before Mohr filed his first PCR application, it was available for substantially over a year prior to the hearing on the application. Thus, in the exercise of due diligence the evidence could have been discovered prior to the hearing on Mohr's first PCR application.
Furthermore, we agree with the district court that the opinions expressed by Dr. Plunkett in his letter are not material to the case at hand and would not probably change the result if a new trial were granted. Dr. Plunkett's letter merely discuses his belief that sometimes diagnoses of shaken baby syndrome are misdiagnoses and suggests that perhaps the medical community should reexamine the concept of shaken infant syndrome and reevaluate the criteria used to diagnose it and determine when it actually occurs. There is no evidence Dr. Plunkett ever reviewed the medical evidence in Mohr's case, had any opinion regarding the cause of Justin's death, or would have agreed or disagreed with the numerous experts testifying for the State who unanimously concluded the cause of death was a violent shaking, or shaking and slamming. Additionally, Mohr's theory, that Justin's injuries were suffered from a fall and/or Mohr's efforts to revive him and not by violent shaking or slamming, was fully presented to the jury by Mohr during cross-examination of the expert witnesses presented by the State and the jury clearly rejected it.
Finally, we note Mohr also states as a second issue in his appellate brief that he "reserves for further review any and all potential issues of ineffective assistance of post-conviction relief counsel." However, we conclude this does not raise any issue we can or should address in this opinion.
IV. CONCLUSION
For all of the reasons set forth above, we agree with the district court that there is no genuine issue of material fact concerning the elements of whether Dr. Plunkett's letter (1) could not have been discovered earlier in the exercise of due diligence, (2) was material to the facts and issues of the case at hand, or (3) would probably change the result if a new trial were granted. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Mohr, we find he has failed to set forth genuine issues of material fact for trial. Accordingly, we conclude the district court properly granted the State's motion for summary judgment and dismissed Mohr's second application for postconviction relief.