IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA

No. 16-2228

Filed September 13, 2017

STATE OF IOWA,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

vs.

ANTHONY DAVIS,

Defendant-Appellant.

________________________________________________________________

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Johnson County, Marsha A. 

Bergan, Judge.

Defendant appeals his conviction for assault on persons engaged in 

certain occupations causing bodily injury. AFFIRMED.

John J. Bishop, Cedar Rapids, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Genevieve Reinkoester, Assistant 

Attorney General, for appellee.

Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and Bower, JJ.
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BOWER, Judge.

Anthony Davis appeals his conviction for assault on persons engaged in 

certain occupations causing bodily injury. We find Davis has failed to show he 

received ineffective assistance on the ground defense counsel permitted him to 

plead guilty where there was not an adequate factual basis for the plea. There is 

an adequate factual basis in the record, and we affirm Davis’s conviction.

I. Background Facts & Proceedings

According to the minutes of testimony, on November 22, 2016, Davis was 

an inmate at the Johnson County jail. Sergeant Demetrius Marlowe went to 

speak with Davis about an argument Davis was having with another inmate. The 

minutes state, “Sgt. Marlowe asked the Defendant to open the door in the 

hallway to walk to holding and the Defendant punched Sgt. Marlowe in the jaw 

without warning. The Defendant struggled with officers and continued to yell 

threats at Sgt. Marlowe.”

Davis was charged with assault on persons engaged in certain 

occupations causing bodily injury, in violation of Iowa Code section 708.3A(3) 

(2016), an aggravated misdemeanor. Davis signed a written guilty plea to the 

charge, in which he stated, “I did assault a peace officer in uniform causing bodily 

injury.” The court accepted Davis’s plea, finding “from an examination of

Defendant’s written guilty plea and from a review of the trial information, together 

with the minutes of testimony, that there is a factual basis for Defendant’s plea of 

guilty.” Davis was sentenced to a term of imprisonment not to exceed two years, 
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to be served concurrently with other sentences he was serving. Davis now 

appeals, claiming he received ineffective assistance of counsel.

II. Standard of Review

We conduct a de novo review of claims of ineffective assistance of 

counsel. State v. Maxwell, 743 N.W.2d 185, 195 (Iowa 2008). To establish a 

claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, a defendant must prove (1) counsel 

failed to perform an essential duty and (2) prejudice resulted to the extent it 

denied the defendant a fair trial. Id. A defendant’s failure to prove either element 

by a preponderance of the evidence is fatal to a claim of ineffective assistance. 

State v. Polly, 657 N.W.2d 462, 465 (Iowa 2003).

III. Merits

Davis claims he received ineffective assistance because defense counsel 

permitted him to plead guilty when there was not an adequate factual basis for 

his plea. He states while there may have been an adequate factual basis based 

on the minutes of testimony to show he assaulted Sergeant Marlowe, the 

minutes do not provide a factual basis to show Sergeant Marlowe suffered a 

bodily injury. Davis claims there is no factual basis in the record to support the 

bodily-injury element of the offense.

“It is a responsibility of defense counsel to ensure that a client does not 

plead guilty to a charge for which there is no objective factual basis.” State v. 

Finney, 834 N.W.2d 46, 54 (Iowa 2013). There is no requirement for evidence 

beyond a reasonable doubt, only a need for a factual basis to support the charge. 

Id. at 62. In considering whether there is a factual basis for a guilty plea, “the 
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entire record before the district court may be examined.” Id. “The defendant’s 

admission on the record of the fact supporting an element of an offense is 

sufficient to provide a factual basis for that element.” State v. Philo, 697 N.W.2d 

481, 486 (Iowa 2005).

We determine there is a sufficient factual basis in the record to support 

Davis’s plea of guilty to assault on persons in certain occupations causing bodily 

injury. Davis’s signed guilty plea states, “I did assault a peace officer in uniform 

causing bodily injury.” The minutes and Davis’s written guilty plea establish the 

factual basis for the offense of assault on persons engaged in certain 

occupations causing bodily injury. See State v. Sutton, 853 N.W.2d 284, 287 

(Iowa Ct. App. 2014). Davis’s admission the assault caused bodily injury is 

sufficient to provide a factual basis on the “causes bodily injury” element of the 

offense. See Iowa Code § 708.3A(3); Philo, 697 N.W.2d at 486. We conclude 

Davis has not shown he received ineffective assistance because defense 

counsel permitted him to plead guilty to the offense.

We affirm Davis’s conviction for assault on persons engaged in certain 

occupations causing bodily injury.

AFFIRMED.