DAVEY LEN BARNETT, Applicant-Appellant, vs. STATE OF IOWA, Respondent-Appellee.
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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 7-235 / 06-1052
Filed May 23, 2007
DAVEY LEN BARNETT,
Applicant-Appellant,
vs.
STATE OF IOWA,
Respondent-Appellee.
________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Edward A.
Jacobson, Judge.
A postconviction relief applicant appeals the district court’s order
dismissing his application on summary judgment. AFFIRMED.
Rees Conrad Douglas, Sioux City, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Thomas Tauber, Assistant Attorney
General, Patrick Jennings, County Attorney, and Drew Bockenstedt, Assistant
County Attorney, for appellee State.
Considered by Vogel, P.J., and Vaitheswaran and Eisenhauer, JJ.
2
VOGEL, P.J.
Davey Barnett appeals the dismissal of his application for postconviction
relief by the district court on summary judgment. Barnett was convicted and
sentenced following a jury trial on numerous criminal charges. We affirmed his
convictions and sentences on direct appeal in State v. Barnett, No. 02-0485
(Iowa Ct. App. Jan. 29, 2003). Barnett filed an application for postconviction
relief in April 2004, in response to which the State moved for summary judgment.
Following a contested hearing, 1 the district court determined that Barnett failed to
preserve error on the issue of whether his trial counsel was ineffective for not
pursuing an alibi defense. Barnett appeals.
We review postconviction proceedings for errors of law. Rhiner v. State,
703 N.W.2d 174, 176 (Iowa 2005). We conclude that the district court properly
granted dismissal of Barnett’s application, because the same issue was raised
and decided adversely to Barnett on direct appeal.
We had determined his
allegations were simply too general to either address or preserve for possible
postconviction relief.
See generally Dunbar v. State, 515 N.W.2d 12, 15-16
(Iowa 1994) (stating an applicant must state specific ways in which counsel was
ineffective and how effective counsel probably would have changed the
outcome). We conclude that Barnett was thus barred from relitigating the issue
in a postconviction proceeding as it was adjudicated on direct appeal. See
1
Although Barnett urged several grounds in the application, only the ruling as it related
to whether counsel was ineffective for failing to call alibi witnesses was raised in this
appeal.
3
Armento v. Baughman, 290 N.W.2d 11, 12 (Iowa 1980). We affirm pursuant to
Iowa Court Rule 21.29(1)(a), (c), and (e).
AFFIRMED.
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