Shelton v. State Of Iowa
| Decision Date | 09 February 2011 |
| Docket Number | No. 0-866 / 08-1962,0-866 / 08-1962 |
| Parties | SHAWN SHELTON, Applicant-Appellant, v. STATE OF IOWA, Respondent-Appellee. |
| Court | Iowa Court of Appeals |
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Lucas County, David Christensen, Judge.
Applicant appeals the dismissal of his application for postconviction relief. AFFIRMED.
Mark C. Smith, State Appellate Defender, and David Adams, Assistant State Appellate Defender, for appellant.
Shawn P. Shelton, Newton, pro se.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Bridget Chambers, Assistant Attorney General, and Paul M. Goldsmith, County Attorney, for appellee.
Considered by Sackett, C.J., and Vogel and Vaitheswaran, JJ. Tabor, J., takes no part.
Applicant, Shawn Shelton, appeals from the district court's order dismissing his postconviction relief application. Shelton claims his trial and former appellate counsel were ineffective because they failed to object to various jury instructions and failed to challenge the sufficiency of evidence on the elements of pre-meditation and lack of justification. Shelton also claims his current appellate counsel was ineffective in seeking to have his former appellate counsel's proof brief stricken in this pending appeal. Shelton claims that he should be excused from the affirmative defense of statute of limitations as the district court on two occasions ordered him to stop filing motions with the court and also claims that the State waived any affirmative defense of statute of limitations at the trial court level. Finally, Shelton asks that this court officially rule that his motion to correct illegal sentence was an application for postconviction relief. We affirm the district court's dismissal.
I. BACKGROUND AND PROCEEDINGS. In the early morning hours of July 3, 1989, applicant, Shawn Shelton, and Ivan Eugene Swigart were leaving a party in Chariton, Iowa. Upon exiting town they observed a pickup truck behind them that they believed was following them. Shelton pulled his vehicle over to the side of the road hoping the pickup would drive by. Instead the pickup stopped along side of him and the occupants, Terry Allen Masters and Dwight Kennedy, inquired whether Shelton needed assistance. Shelton asked Masters and Kennedy "what the f*** is your problem" and told them to stop following him. Shelton then sped off throwing gravel at Masters' truck. Shelton proceededdown the highway until he reached a gravel road. He turned onto the gravel road in an attempt to lose Masters and Kennedy. When Masters and Kennedy proceeded past the gravel road turn off, Shelton turned his vehicle around and proceeded back to the main highway. On his way back to the highway, Shelton again encountered Masters and Kennedy driving in the opposite direction down the gravel road. The vehicles seemed to engage in a game of "chicken" with Shelton swerving at the last minute toward the ditch. Masters and Kennedy proceeded down the gravel road as Shelton backed his vehicle out of the ditch and brought it to a stop in the roadway.
Shelton then removed a disassembled shotgun from behind his seat, put it together and loaded it. Shelton told his passenger, Swigart, "we have to kill them before they kill us." Swigart took the shotgun and exited the vehicle taking position in the rear.1 Masters and Kennedy by this time had turned around on the gravel road to head back toward Shelton. As they approached the Shelton vehicle, Masters and Kennedy observed Swigart with the gun. Masters slowed his vehicle and began to back up slowly. Masters and Kennedy both ducked below the dash board with Masters peaking above the dash to guide the vehicle backwards. Swigart fired the gun2 hitting Masters' windshield just above the dash board. The bullet struck Masters on the left side of the face, killing him instantly.
Swigart returned to the cab of Shelton's pickup truck stating "let's get the hell out of here" and Shelton proceeded to drive back toward the highway. On the way back, Shelton informed Swigart that they had to return to the scene in order to retrieve the shotgun shells because they had their fingerprints on them and they needed to make sure that both occupants were dead. When they reached Masters' pickup truck, Shelton took the gun from Swigart and fired three more times at the pickup truck. Swigart reached inside the Masters vehicle to turn off the headlights. They picked up some of the shells and then left the scene. They turned off their headlights and headed in the opposite direction of the highway because they had seen another vehicle traveling down the gravel road toward them.
Shelton was arrested and charged with murder in the first degree in the death of Masters and attempted murder as to Kennedy. Shelton was convicted on both counts and sentenced on January 22, 1990. Shelton appealed this conviction and the Iowa Supreme Court reversed and remanded for a new trial on grounds that are not relevant to this appeal. At the second trial, Shelton was represented by Peter Berger and Ward Rouse. Their sole defense at the trial was that Shelton acted in self-defense. The jury again found Shelton guilty on both counts, and on October 7, 1991, he was sentenced to life in prison for the death of Masters and twenty-five years for the attempted murder of Kennedy.
Shelton once again appealed this conviction and Kermit Dunahoo was appointed to represent him. During the pendency of the appeal, Mr. Dunahoofiled a motion to withdraw pursuant to Iowa R. App. P. 1043 asserting that the appeal was frivolous. After consideration of Shelton's pro se resistance to this motion, the Iowa Supreme Court granted Dunahoo's motion on June 8, 1992 and dismissed the appeal without prejudice to any claim for ineffective assistance of counsel in a postconviction relief action under Iowa Code chapter 663A.
Shelton then filed a pro se motion for correction of illegal sentence with the district court on August 12, 1992. In response, the court appointed counsel for Shelton and stated that it would consider this motion as a petition for postconviction relief and directed counsel to file the petition pursuant to Iowa Code chapter 663A (1991).
For reasons unknown to this court, the postconviction relief action languished in the district court from August 1992 until June 13, 2008 when Shelton's newly appointed counsel filed an amended postconviction application. The postconviction relief trial took place on August 14, 2008 and was fully submitted to the court on October 17, 2008. On November 5, 2008 the district court dismissed the application and amended application finding there was no evidence that trial or appellate counsel were ineffective. The court further held that the evidence against Shelton was overwhelming that he aided and abetted Ivan Swigart in the murder of Masters and the attempted murder of Kennedy.
Shelton's counsel filed a motion to enlarge the ruling asking the court to specifically order that it had considered and rejected all of Shelton's claims in order to preserve error on appeal. The motion was granted and on December 2, 2008, the court ruled that it has considered and denied all of Shelton's claims in his postconviction relief trial. It is from this final decision that Shelton now appeals.
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW. The scope of review of postconviction relief proceedings is typically for errors at law. Rhiner v. State, 703 N.W.2d 174, 175 (Iowa 2005). However, alleged constitutional violations, including ineffective assistance of counsel claims, are reviewed de novo. Osborn v. State, 573 N.W.2d 917, 920 (Iowa 1998). Under this review, we independently evaluate the issues considering the totality of the circumstances. Id.
III. INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL. In ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims, a defendant must show that his trial or appellate counsel (1) failed to perform an essential duty, and (2) prejudice resulted. Anfinson v. State, 758 N.W.2d 496, 499 (Iowa 2008) (citing Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 2064, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674, 693 (1984)). If either element is not met, the claim will fail. Anfinson, 758 N.W.2d at 499. To demonstrate prejudice, the defendant must show that "but for the counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different." Id.
A. Failing to Object to Jury Instruction No. 32 on the Justification Defense. Shelton claims that both his trial and appellate counsel were ineffective for failing to object to Jury Instruction No. 32, which was applicable to his defense of justification. Specifically Jury Instruction No. 32 states:
(Emphasis added.) Shelton objects to the highlighted sentence above asserting that this sentence is an improper statement of the law on the defense of justification under the aiding and abetting theory. The State asserts that the jury instruction is a proper statement of the law and Shelton's justification defense rose or fell with Swigart's justification defense so long as Shelton remained an accomplice of Swigart.
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