State of Iowa v. Martin Guerrero-Adame , 919 N.W.2d 768 ( 2018 )

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 17-1162
Filed June 20, 2018
STATE OF IOWA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
vs.
MARTIN GUERRERO-ADAME,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Muscatine County, Mary E. Howes,
Judge.
Martin Guerrero-Adame appeals his conviction for third-degree sexual
abuse. AFFIRMED.
Rockne O. Cole of Cole Law Firm, P.C., Iowa City, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Louis S. Sloven, Assistant Attorney
General, for appellee.
Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Potterfield and Tabor, JJ.
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VAITHESWARAN, Presiding Judge.
A twelve-year-old girl told a forensic interviewer that her grandmother’s
husband touched her breasts and vagina. The State charged Martin Guerrero-
Adame with third-degree sexual abuse, in violation of Iowa Code section
709.4(1)(b)(2) (2016). Following a bench trial, the district court found him guilty as
charged.
On appeal, Guerrero-Adame contends his trial attorney was ineffective “in
presenting” an expert who, in the eyes of the district court, did nothing to advance
his cause. To prevail he must show (1) deficient performance and (2) prejudice.
See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687 (1984). We find the record
adequate to address the issue. See State v. Braggs, 784 N.W.2d 31, 34 (Iowa
2010). The pertinent record is as follows.
The defense called a psychiatrist to the stand. He spoke in generalities
about protocols for forensic interviews. He then agreed with the defense attorney
that the forensic interviewer who spoke to the child should have “gone into more
detail.” When asked why, he responded, “The more information one has, the
better—you know, the more it substantiates, you know, the issue.” Defense
counsel pressed for specifics. The psychiatrist answered, “I think, just, you know,
to get a better understanding of how that particular action played out as much as
one could.”
Defense counsel next asked the psychiatrist whether he had any “medical
opinions.” He responded, “I didn’t give an opinion, mainly because I couldn’t give
an opinion. I didn’t evaluate all parties. I thought that there were gaps in the
information, and frankly, I couldn’t come up with an opinion.”
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The district court found the psychiatrist’s testimony unhelpful. After noting
that he failed to “interview anyone in connection with this case” and gave “no
opinion as to the case,” the court characterized the expert’s testimony as “a lot of
circular gobbledygook that did not shed any light on this case.” The court
expressed uncertainty as to “why the doctor was called.”
We agree the psychiatrist added little to the defense presentation. But he
also did not “bolster[] the State’s case,” as Guerrero-Adame asserts. His testimony
and report aided neither side. See State v. Clay, 824 N.W.2d 488, 496 (Iowa 2012)
(“In determining whether [there is prejudice], we must consider . . . what factual
findings would have been affected by counsel’s errors . . . .” (quoting State v.
Graves, 668 N.W.2d 860, 882-83 (Iowa 2003))). The court’s finding of guilt turned
on the testimony of the child, who provided a detailed description of the sex acts
Guerrero-Adame perpetrated. In the district court’s words, her testimony was
“convincing, credible, believable, and compelling.” Given her articulate statements
of what transpired, there is no reasonable probability of a different result had
defense counsel kept the psychiatrist off the stand. See Strickland, 466 U.S. at
494 (requiring a showing of “a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s
unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different”);
Heaton v. State, 420 N.W.2d 429, 432 (Iowa 1988) (“[I]n view of the trial court’s
reliance on petitioner’s own statements which impeached his testimony as to a
blackout, we fail to see any prejudice caused by his attorney’s failure to obtain the
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services of an expert.”). We affirm Guerrero-Adame’s conviction for third-degree
sexual abuse.
AFFIRMED.