State v. El-Amin
| Decision Date | 18 December 2020 |
| Docket Number | No. 19-0925,19-0925 |
| Citation | 952 N.W.2d 134 |
| Parties | STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Ajamu Manu EL-AMIN, Appellant. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Martha J. Lucey, State Appellate Defender, and Robert P. Ranschau, Assistant Appellate Defender, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Sheryl Soich, Assistant Attorney General, John P. Sarcone, County Attorney, and Michael A. Salvner and Jaki L. Livingston, Assistant County Attorneys, for appellee.
In this appeal, we must decide whether the defendant's guilty plea was supported by a factual basis. According to the minutes of testimony, the defendant raped a woman, G.S., and then forced his companion, J.C., to have sex with the same woman against both of their wills. The defendant pled guilty to two counts of sexual abuse in the third degree in violation of Iowa Code sections 709.1(1) and 709.4(1)(a ) (2017), and the district court sentenced him to consecutive prison terms of up to ten years on each count. The defendant appealed.
The victim in count I is identified as G.S., and the defendant does not challenge his conviction on that count. As to count II, however, the victim is identified as J.C., and the defendant argues there is no evidence that he committed a sex act against J.C. Accordingly, he argues his trial counsel was ineffective for allowing him to plead guilty to count II without a factual basis. We transferred the case to the court of appeals, which affirmed his conviction based on an aiding-and-abetting theory. The defendant applied for further review, and we granted his application.
On our review, we determine that J.C. is also a victim because the defendant forced him to commit a sex act against his will. Accordingly, count II is supported by a factual basis. We therefore affirm the decision of the court of appeals and the district court's judgment.
At dusk on April 4, 2017, G.S., age fifty, and two companions met behind the Salvation Army building and walked down an alley near Sixth Avenue and Forest Avenue in Des Moines. They carried a box of donated items Catholic Worker House staff had given one of them. They had stopped in the alley to drink Four Loko when Ajamu El-Amin approached with another man, J.C. El-Amin was yelling at J.C. and gripping him by the arm. El-Amin knew G.S. and threatened her with a large stick, claiming she owed him $40 for protection. Her companions fled.
El-Amin grabbed G.S. and led her further down the alley. He told G.S. to take off her coat and put it on the ground. She complied. He told her to take off her pants, which she did. He pushed her over a retaining wall and forced her to have oral and vaginal sex with him. G.S. believed El-Amin had a knife in his hand and feared for her life. After El-Amin raped her, he told her to get on the ground and ordered J.C. to take off his pants, "get down and do her." J.C. complied, while El-Amin looked "crazy" and was "screaming really violently." Before J.C. and El-Amin departed, G.S. saw El-Amin take J.C.’s wallet.
After the men left, G.S. walked away crying in the opposite direction, and vomited. She went to the hospital the next day and also reported the assaults to police, who found condoms in the alley—one with the DNA of El-Amin. A few weeks later, G.S. encountered J.C. near Bethel Mission. He apologized and told her that El-Amin had stolen his wallet that night. G.S. later testified in her deposition that J.C. had been "terrified" during the assault and that she told him in their second encounter, "I know he didn't mean – wasn't doing it on his own account basically" and that she gave him the number for victim assistance.
The State filed a trial information charging El-Amin with sexual abuse in the second degree, in violation of Iowa Code sections 709.1 and 709.3(1)(c ), "by engaging in a sex act by force or against the will of G.S. and when aided or abetted by one person[ ]." After beginning jury selection and pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement, El-Amin pled guilty to two counts of third-degree sexual abuse, in violation of Iowa Code sections 709.1(1) and 709.4(1)(a ). The victim in count I was identified as G.S. and the victim in count II was identified as J.C.
During the plea colloquy, the judge described the elements of the offense and explained that it included aiding and abetting:
After confirming El-Amin understood the elements of the crime charged, the judge continued the colloquy to establish the factual basis:
The court accepted the guilty plea, entered judgment, and sentenced him to a term of imprisonment not to exceed ten years on each count, with the sentences to run consecutively to each other and to a previously imposed prison sentence.
El-Amin appealed, arguing that he was denied effective assistance of counsel because his counsel allowed him to enter a guilty plea to count II without a factual basis. El-Amin conceded there was a factual basis to support his guilty plea to count I with G.S. as the victim, but he argues he could not be found guilty under count II because there was no evidence he committed a sex act against J.C. We transferred the case to the court of appeals, which affirmed El-Amin's conviction, concluding that there was "a sufficient factual basis to sustain El-Amin's guilty plea to count II based on an aiding-and-abetting theory." The court of appeals noted that El-Amin admitted he had "threatened and intimidated J.C. into performing a sex act on G.S. by force or against her will." We granted El-Amin's application for further review.
While generally a defendant must file a motion in arrest of judgment to challenge a guilty plea on appeal, an exception exists "when a defendant alleges trial counsel was ineffective for permitting him to plead guilty to a charge for which there is no factual basis and for failing to thereafter file a motion in arrest of judgment." State v. Finney , 834 N.W.2d 46, 49 (Iowa 2013). "Our review of claims of ineffective assistance of counsel is de novo." State v. Ortiz , 905 N.W.2d 174, 179 (Iowa 2017).1
We must decide whether a factual basis supports El-Amin's plea of guilty to count II when he did not have sexual contact with the named victim, J.C., but rather forced J.C. to have sex with G.S. against both of their wills. If a factual basis is lacking, then his counsel provided constitutionally deficient representation by allowing El-Amin to plead guilty to count II.
El-Amin must show he received ineffective assistance of counsel. "The [C]onstitutions of the United States and Iowa guarantee a criminal defendant the right to effective assistance of counsel." State v. Kuhse , 937 N.W.2d 622, 628 (Iowa 2020). A defendant proves ineffective assistance of counsel when he establishes: "(1) his trial counsel failed to perform an essential duty, and (2) this failure resulted in prejudice." State v. Straw , 709 N.W.2d 128, 133 (Iowa 2006). A guilty plea must have a factual basis. Iowa R. Crim. P. 2.8(2)(b ). "Defense counsel violates an essential duty when counsel permits defendant to plead guilty and waive his right to file a motion in arrest of judgment when there is no factual basis to support defendant's guilty plea." State v. Ortiz , 789 N.W.2d 761, 764 (Iowa 2010). "Prejudice is presumed under these circumstances." Id. at 764–65.
"[T]o succeed on the essential duty prong, [the defendant] must demonstrate the record lacks a factual basis to support his guilty plea to [the crime charged]." Id. at 765. El-Amin does not contest the factual basis as to count I, but he does challenge his plea to...
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