State v. Trombone

• Decision Date: 02 May 2018
• Docket Number: No. 17-0776,17-0776
• Citation: 919 N.W.2d 635 (Table)
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Deshaun Lonte TROMBONE, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Court of Appeals

919 N.W.2d 635 (Table)

STATE of Iowa, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Deshaun Lonte TROMBONE, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 17-0776

Court of Appeals of Iowa.

Filed May 2, 2018

Karmen R. Anderson of Anderson & Taylor, P.L.L.C., Des Moines, for appellant.

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

Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Potterfield and Tabor, JJ.

VAITHESWARAN, Presiding Judge.

DeShaun Trombone entered Alford pleas¹ to possession of a simulated controlled substance (MDMA) with the intent to deliver, as well as another crime. On appeal, the court of appeals concluded the possession crime lacked a factual basis. State v . Trombone , No. 15-1696, 2016 WL 5484893, at *2-3 (Iowa Ct. App. Sept. 28, 2016). We stated:

The minutes of testimony show officers found eighty-one "multi-colored tablets" they initially thought were MDMA, but after testing, the pills were determined to be caffeine. [It was] noted Trombone, on occasion, had taken "small yellow pills and multi-colored pills." The record lacks any specific reference to Trombone selling the caffeine pills or representing the caffeine pills as MDMA.

Id . at *3. We vacated this portion of Trombone’s conviction and remanded "to allow the State to demonstrate whether a factual basis exists." Id .

On remand, the State filed a notice of additional/substituted witnesses. The notice elaborated on the nature of the pills and stated the officer’s belief that the number and packaging was consistent with possession to deliver or distribute. The district court found, "[T]he additional Minutes do substantiate the charge of Possession of a Simulated Controlled Substance with Intent to Deliver." The court concluded "the original sentence shall stand." In this appeal from the remand order, Trombone contends his prior appellate attorney was ineffective in "fail[ing] to request an appropriate remedy thereby prejudicing him when he was resentenced."

In the first appeal, this court ordered a remedy authorized by the Iowa Supreme Court. See Rhoades v . State , 848 N.W.2d 22, 33 (Iowa 2014) ("Because it is possible...