Moon v. State, 21-1407

• Court: Court of Appeals of Iowa
• Writing for the Court: CHICCHELLY, JUDGE
• Parties: MARTIN SHANE MOON, Applicant-Appellant, v. STATE OF IOWA, Respondent-Appellee
• Docket Number: 21-1407
• Decision Date: 17 November 2022

MARTIN SHANE MOON, Applicant-Appellant,
v.
STATE OF IOWA, Respondent-Appellee

No. 21-1407

Court of Appeals of Iowa

November 17, 2022

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Clarke County, Terry Rickers, Judge.

A defendant appeals the dismissal of his application for postconviction relief.

Kelsey Knight of Carr Law Firm, P.L.C., Des Moines, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Bridget A. Chambers, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Considered by Ahlers, P.J., and Badding and Chicchelly, JJ.

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CHICCHELLY, JUDGE

Martin Moon appeals the dismissal of his application for postconviction relief (PCR) concerning his conviction for murder in the first degree. He maintains summary dismissal was improper because he alleges newly discovered evidence and potential Brady^[1] violations. Finding no genuine issue of material fact, we affirm the district court's dismissal as a matter of law.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

On July 6, 2000, a jury found Moon guilty of first-degree murder. In an en banc decision, we upheld his conviction on direct appeal. See State v. Moon, No. 00-1128, 2002 WL 663486 (Iowa Ct. App. Apr. 24, 2002). Three PCR applications have since been either denied or dismissed, with each affirmed on appeal. See Moon v. State, No. 05-0816, 2007 WL 1345732 (Iowa Ct. App. May 9, 2007); Moon v. State, 911 N.W.2d 137 (Iowa 2018); Moon v. State, No. 19-2037, 2021 WL 610195 (Iowa Ct. App. Feb. 17, 2021).

This appeal concerns Moon's fourth PCR application, which he filed on February 21, 2020. In March, the State filed a motion for summary dismissal, arguing Moon's application was untimely. After waiting for a resolution to Moon's appeal of his third PCR application, the district court held a hearing in August 2021 and granted the State's motion in September. Moon filed a timely notice of appeal.

II. Review.

"We review summary dismissals of [PCR] applications for errors at law." Schmidt v. State, 909 N.W.2d 778, 784 (Iowa 2018). PCR applications are subject

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to the same summary judgment standards applied in civil proceedings. See id. Accordingly, we affirm a summary dismissal "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show . . . there is no genuine issue of material fact and . . . the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law." Id. (alterations in original) (citation omitted). "We view the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party" and "draw all legitimate inferences from the evidence in favor of the nonmoving party." Id.

III. Discussion.

Moon contends that he has newly...