Court Opinion

ID: 9664442
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:19:03.654261+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:06.420626
License: Public Domain

SCHLEGEL, Judge
(specially concurring).
I agree with the result reached by the majority. I am not prepared to hold that the complaints made by Luke concerning his trial counsel’s claimed inadequacies entitle him to postconviction relief. Neither am I prepared to hold that Luke’s complaints concerning appellate counsel show ineffective assistance of appellate counsel. For the most part, the issues raised by Luke to show ineffective assistance of appellate counsel would have been very unlikely of success in an appellate court.
I write, however, to voice my disagreement with the majority's reasoning in determining that appellate counsel was not ineffective. As I have stated in my special *906concurrence in Aguilar v. State, No. 0-373, filed this date, I do not agree that counsel should not raise all nonfrivolous issues on appeal. I do not believe this is what Jones v. Barnes, 463 U.S. 745, 103 S.Ct. 3308, 77 L.Ed.2d 987 (1983), holds. That case dealt with the issue that appellate counsel was not ineffective for failing to raise and argue every issue the client urged him to argue. Chief Justice Burger, in dictum, volunteered the questionable statement that “experienced advocates since time beyond memory have emphasized the importance of winnowing out weaker arguments on appeal.” One can see the wisdom of selecting issues to argue, but it is quite a different matter to fail to raise issues which may have less chance of success. Further, I do not agree that the deference we grant to trial counsel in determining the tactical decisions made in the heat of trial or preparation for trial should be given to appellate counsel.
The majority relies in large part upon reasoning expressed in Bear v. State, 417 N.W.2d 467 (Iowa App.1987). In that case the majority quoted Sims v. State, 295 N.W.2d 420, 424 (Iowa 1980), for the proposition that “[a]s a matter of policy, if defense counsel must weigh every action on the scale of a potential subsequent ineffective counsel claim ... in the end the client’s case will suffer.” From this, the majority both here and in Bear draw the conclusion that “[sjound trial strategy generally dictates that only the most promising issues be raised on appeal.” Supra at 904 (citing Bear v. State, 417 N.W.2d 467, 474 (Iowa App.1987)). I submit that these conclusions are not warranted by the decisions of the Iowa cases. Likewise, to follow the dictum of the United States Supreme Court on .this issue is to distort the meaning of that statement.
There is no good reason for appellate counsel to discard any issue on appeal on the thought that, strategically or tactically, it is better not to over-burden the appellate court. I do not believe it is proper for me to excúse counsel for failing to raise an issue on some perception by appellate counsel that to raise many issues will somehow prejudice his or her client. There is no proper reason to avoid raising any issue which might be meritorious.
Appellate courts, so far as I am aware, are not courts of “limited issue access”. Therefore, while I agree with the result reached, I object to the use of the cited language in the majority decision.