Opinion ID: 1835229
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Essential Duty.

Text: To establish a breach of an essential duty, the first element, the challenged legal representation must be shown to fall below the range of normal competence. State v. Blackford, 335 N.W.2d 173, 178 (Iowa 1983); State v. Aldape, 307 N.W.2d 32, 41-42 (Iowa 1981). One claiming ineffectiveness must overcome a presumption of effectiveness. Sims v. State, 295 N.W.2d 420, 423 (Iowa 1980). Defendant Mayer was tried for committing sexual abuse against H.M., C.B., and M.M. At the time of trial, H.M. was fourteen years old; M.M. was fifteen years old. He was convicted on the count involving the fifteen-year-old and acquitted on the other two counts. The statutory authority for the confrontation procedure stems from rule 12(2)(b) regarding depositions. That rule states: The court may upon motion of a party and notice to the other parties order that the testimony of a victim or witness who is a child, as defined in Iowa Code section 702.5, be taken by deposition for use at trial. Only the judge, parties, counsel, persons necessary to record the deposition, and any person whose presence, in the opinion of the court, would contribute to the welfare and well being of the child may be present in the room with the child during the child's deposition. The court may require a party be confined to an adjacent room or behind a screen or mirror that permits the party to see and hear the child during the child's deposition, but does not allow the child to see or hear the party. However, if a party is so confined, the court shall take measures to insure that the party and counsel can confer during the deposition and shall inform the child that the party can see and hear the child during the deposition. Iowa Code section 910A.14(1) (1987), regarding courtroom testimony states: A court may, upon its own motion or upon motion of any party, order that the testimony of a child, as defined in section 702.5, be taken in a room other than the courtroom and be televised by closed circuit equipment in the courtroom to be viewed by the court. Only the judge, parties, counsel, persons necessary to operate the equipment, and any person whose presence, in the opinion of the court, would contribute to the welfare and well being of the child may be present in the room with the child during the child's testimony. The definition of a child, specifically referenced in section 702.5, in rule 12 and in section 910A.14 states as follows: For purposes of titles XXV to XXVII, unless another age is specified, a child is any person under the age of fourteen years. Our statutory authority for sequestering witnesses is keyed to our statutory definition of child. That definition sets the age parameters at any person under the age of fourteen years. Two of the victim witnesses did not meet the statutory criterion, since they were fourteen and fifteen years old. Mayer's conviction was for sexual abuse of M.M., the fifteen year old. The State argues that the statute was designed to protect a child's mentality from the rigors of a courtroom experience. Because these children suffered from a mental disability, the State argues their chronological age is irrelevant, their functioning level was below normal, they functioned as children and are therefore covered by the spirit and intent of section 910A.14. Though laudable in purpose, the State's argument has no basis in law. We are cited to and find no authority for sequestering a defendant from the witnesses on the basis of this rationale. Nothing in the statutes relied on suggests or permits this interpretation of legislative intent. Such a construction would remove the statutory restriction of under fourteen and substitute a standard without limits. The statute would be effectively eviscerated. We hold the trial court's sequestering defendant during the testimony of the witnesses H.M. and M.M. was in error. Mayer's counsel by agreeing to the sequestration that was patently unauthorized by existing statute failed to perform an essential duty to protect defendant's constitutional right of confrontation.