Court Opinion

ID: 9781077
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 16:06:25.522712+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:09:46.800431
License: Public Domain

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA

                                    No. 22-1956
                               Filed August 30, 2023

STATE OF IOWA,
     Plaintiff-Appellee,

vs.

AARON BROWN,
     Defendant-Appellant.
________________________________________________________________

      Appeal    from     the   Iowa   District   Court   for   Black   Hawk   County,

William P. Wegman, District Associate Judge.

      Defendant appeals his conviction for operating a vehicle without owner’s

consent. AFFIRMED.

      Martha J. Lucey, State Appellate Defender, and Ashley Stewart, Assistant

Appellate Defender, for appellant.

      Brenna Bird, Attorney General, and Thomas J. Ogden, Assistant Attorney

General, for appellee.

      Considered by Greer, P.J., and Schumacher and Badding, JJ.
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SCHUMACHER, Judge.

       Aaron Brown appeals his conviction for operating a vehicle without owner’s

consent, arguing insufficient evidence exists to support his conviction.           We

conclude substantial evidence exists to support the conviction and affirm.

       I.      Background Facts & Prior Proceedings

       A rational trier of fact, here, a Black Hawk County jury, could conclude the

following from the evidence presented at trial. On November 23, 2021, two days

before the Thanksgiving holiday, friends Aaron Brown and Randal Haskins were

patronizing casinos in the Quad Cities. They later decided to drive to Waterloo, as

Haskins had a few free night’s stays at a casino there. The pair planned to stay at

the casino until November 25th, Thanksgiving Day. Haskins set up a late check-

out, with a joint plan to leave around noon to get to their family holiday celebrations

by 4:00 p.m.

       On Thanksgiving morning, Haskins spent time playing the slot machines

before returning to the room he was sharing with Brown; Haskins arrived back at

the room around 10:00 a.m. There he found Brown and another man. Haskins

fell asleep in the room and was later awakened by housekeeping. He could not

locate his vehicle keys. And his vehicle, a 2010 Ford Focus, was missing. Haskins

testified that he had never given Brown consent to take his vehicle. Without keys

or his vehicle, Haskins sat with his two dogs in the hotel foyer for eight hours until

another hotel guest paid for a room for him.

       Brown was discovered around 9:30 p.m. that night by Officer Anel Husidic

in a 2010 Ford Focus parked outside a convenience store in Hudson, Iowa. Officer
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Husidic was called to this location to investigate reports of a suspicious vehicle

that had been parked outside the store for roughly five-and-one-half hours. On

arrival, Officer Husidic confirmed the vehicle was registered to Haskins, and he

observed that Brown was fidgety and “seemed kind of off.” Brown had been at the

convenience store since around 4:00 p.m. because the Ford Focus would not start.

Officer Husidic offered assistance using jumper cables from his squad vehicle, but

he could not get the vehicle running. Brown never indicated why he was driving

Haskins’s vehicle, and he never conveyed that he might need to reach his friend.

Although Brown stated that he would return to get the vehicle, the vehicle remained

at the convenience store and was eventually impounded.

      Hoping Brown would return with his vehicle, Haskins waited three days

before he called the police. He heard nothing from Brown. Eventually, Haskins

learned that his vehicle, easily recognizable with giant decorative stickers and a

“busted out back left window,” was spotted in Hudson. When he spoke to police,

Haskins told them Brown had taken his vehicle to give a friend a ride home, but he

later stated this became known to him only after the fact.

      Brown was arrested and charged with operating a vehicle without owner’s

consent. Two witnesses testified at trial, Haskins and Officer Husidic. The jury

found Brown guilty, and he was sentenced to a two-year suspended prison

sentence and two years of informal probation. Brown filed this timely appeal.

      II.    Standard of Review

      Sufficiency of the evidence is reviewed for correction of legal error. State

v. Crawford, 974 N.W.2d 510, 516 (Iowa 2022). In sufficiency-of-the-evidence

cases, we consider if the verdict is supported by substantial evidence.         Id.
                                          4

Substantial evidence is evidence that would convince a rational trier of fact of guilt

beyond a reasonable doubt.        Id.   Evidence must do more than simply raise

“suspicion, speculation, or conjecture.” State v. Casady, 491 N.W.2d 782, 787

(Iowa 1992). We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the State.

Crawford, 974 N.W.2d at 516.

       III.     Sufficiency of the Evidence

       On appeal, Brown’s sole argument is that the State failed to present

sufficient evidence he had possession or control of another’s vehicle without their

consent.      A person operates a vehicle without owner’s consent if they “take

possession or control of any . . . vehicle . . . without the consent of the owner of

such.” Iowa Code § 714.7 (2021). Brown was found with Haskins’s vehicle,1 so

the only question remaining is whether sufficient evidence was presented to show

his use of the vehicle was without consent of the owner. We answer in the

affirmative.

       Haskins testified at trial. When asked if Brown had consent to use his

vehicle, Haskins responded: “[a]bsolutely not.” He also testified that Brown never

even asked him if he could use the vehicle. Brown contends that because Haskins

waited three days to call the police, and because he told them that Brown had

taken his vehicle to drive a friend home, it necessarily follows that the State failed

to present sufficient evidence. However, “‘It is not the province of the court . . . to

resolve conflicts in the evidence, to pass upon the credibility of witnesses, to

determine the plausibility of explanations, or to weigh the evidence; such matters

1 Undisputed evidence presented at trial showed that the 2010 Ford Focus in which

Brown was located was registered in Haskin’s name.
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are for the jury.’” State v. Williams, 695 N.W.2d 23, 28 (Iowa 2005) (citation

omitted).

         Haskins maintained throughout trial that he never gave consent for Brown

to take his vehicle. He explained that he did not know Brown took his vehicle to

drive a friend home until after the fact. The two had agreed to a plan where they

would get to their family Thanksgiving celebrations around 4:00 p.m., but Brown

did not even arrive at the convenience store until that time. There had been no

agreement to deviate from the original plan, and even though neither of them had

cell phones, Brown made no attempt to contact Haskins in any way after leaving

the casino with the vehicle. We conclude there is substantial evidence in the

record to convince a rational trier of fact of Brown’s guilt beyond a reasonable

doubt.

         AFFIRMED.