State of Iowa v. Jehu Purnell

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 18-1220
Filed November 6, 2019
STATE OF IOWA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
vs.
JEHU PURNELL,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Des Moines County, Michael J.
Schilling, Judge.
Jehu Purnell appeals from his conviction of willful injury causing serious
injury. AFFIRMED.
Mark C. Smith, State Appellate Defender, (until withdrawal) and Melinda J.
Nye, Assistant Appellate Defender, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Thomas E. Bakke, Assistant
Attorney General, for appellee.
Considered by Bower, C.J., and Potterfield and Greer, JJ.
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GREER, Judge.
Jehu Purnell appeals from his conviction of one count of willful injury
causing serious injury. He argues that there was insufficient evidence to support
findings that he stabbed the victim or that he had the specific intent to cause
serious injury. We disagree and affirm.
I. Background Facts and Proceedings.
On June 17, 2016, Jamiel Culps was stabbed twice during a fight at a
barbecue at Tim Ashford’s home in Burlington, Iowa. Witnesses identified Purnell
as the stabber. In March 2018, Purnell was charged with one count of willful injury
causing serious injury in violation of Iowa Code section 708.4(1) (2016). The case
proceeded to a jury trial.
During the trial, the jury heard testimony related to a fight between
partygoers. To set the scene, Culps and two other guests at the barbecue—James
Korf and Latisha Lewis—testified at trial. According to their testimony, about
twenty people were at the barbecue that evening. During the party, Purnell and
Ashford argued. Others, including Culps, tried to calm them down. It was at this
point that Purnell then began arguing with Culps, and it quickly escalated into a
physical fight. Purnell slapped Culps, then Culps hit Purnell twice. Other guests
at the barbecue stood around them. Culps, Korf, and Lewis all testified that during
the fight an onlooker shouted something equivalent to, “He’s stabbing him! He’s
stabbing him!” As the two men grabbed each other and fell, Culps slammed into
a car door and then onto the ground. Purnell landed on top of Culps. After the
two men landed on the ground, onlookers pulled the two apart and broke up the
fight.
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When they separated, Culps realized he had been stabbed. All the same,
Culps, Korf, and Lewis denied seeing a knife or seeing Purnell stab Culps.
Likewise, the police did not recover a knife from the scene but did find blood on
the car where Culps had fallen into the door.
After a rushed transport to the hospital, doctors found stab wounds to
Culps’s kidney and chest. Because of the seriousness of injury, doctors inserted
a chest tube to drain the blood. As a result of the stab wounds, Culps was at risk
for hemodynamic failure and respiratory failure, both of which can be fatal. Culps
spent one day in intensive care, forty-eight hours at the hospital after the stabbing,
and two months recovering.
After the presentation of these facts and at the close of the State’s evidence,
Purnell’s counsel moved for judgment of acquittal arguing that the State failed to
prove Purnell had a knife or that he was the individual who stabbed Culps. The
court denied the motion. Purnell did not present any evidence in his defense. He
renewed his motion for judgment of acquittal “on the basis of the State’s failure to
prove its case on the elements,” which was denied.
After deliberations, the jury found Purnell guilty as charged. The district
court sentenced him to a term of imprisonment not to exceed ten years. Purnell
appeals.
II. Standard of Review.
“We review challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence for correction of
errors at law.” State v. Veal, 930 N.W.2d 319, 328 (Iowa 2019). Inherent in our
standard of review of jury verdicts in criminal cases is the recognition that the jury
was free to reject certain evidence and credit other evidence. “Consequently,
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where the record contains substantial evidence, ‘we are bound by the jury’s finding
of guilt.’” State v. Button, 622 N.W.2d 480, 483 (Iowa 2001) (quoting State v.
Romeo, 542 N.W.2d 543, 545 (Iowa 1996)). We review claims of ineffective
assistance of counsel de novo. State v. Liddell, 672 N.W.2d 805, 809 (Iowa 2003).
III. Analysis.
To begin, Purnell argues the district court should have granted his motion
for judgment of acquittal because insufficient evidence showed that he stabbed
Culps or that he did so with the specific intent to cause a serious injury. “[W]e will
uphold a verdict if substantial evidence supports it.” State v. Wickes, 910 N.W.2d
554, 563 (Iowa 2018) (quoting State v. Ramirez, 895 N.W.2d 884, 890 (Iowa
2017)). “Evidence is considered substantial if, when viewed in the light most
favorable to the State, it can convince a rational jury that the defendant is guilty
beyond a reasonable doubt.” Ramirez, 895 N.W.2d at 890 (quoting State v. Reed,
875 N.W.2d 693, 704–05 (Iowa 2016)). “Direct and circumstantial evidence are
equally probative.” State v. Kelso-Christy, 911 N.W.2d 663, 668 (Iowa 2018)
(quoting State v. Maynard, 379 N.W.2d 382, 383 (Iowa Ct. App. 1985)).
With those legal principles in mind, Purnell acknowledges that his motion
only challenged the sufficiency of the evidence of identity but not of intent. But on
appeal, Purnell also seeks to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence of intent
using an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel framework. We will address his claims
in turn.
A. Identity. Central to his arguments, Purnell claims there was insufficient
evidence to show that he was the person who stabbed Culps. We disagree. At
trial, Culps testified that no one else was involved in the fight stating, “I mean, there
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was people everywhere; but as far as, like, in the middle of our fight, no.” No other
witnesses saw anyone else involved in the fight between Purnell and Culps, except
to break it up. By that point, Culps had been stabbed. Taking the evidence in the
light most favorable to the State, there is sufficient evidence to convince a jury
beyond a reasonable doubt that Purnell was the stabber.
B. Specific Intent. As noted, Purnell did not challenge the specific intent
element in his motion for judgment of acquittal. Instead, on appeal Purnell claims
his trial attorney was ineffective by failing to argue there was insufficient evidence
of specific intent to cause serious injury.
To prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, Purnell must
prove by a preponderance of the evidence that “(1) his trial counsel failed to
perform an essential duty, and (2) this failure resulted in prejudice.” State v.
Thorndike, 860 N.W.2d 316, 320 (Iowa 2015) (quoting State v. Adams, 810 N.W.2d
365, 372 (Iowa 2012)).1 Purnell must show “that there is a reasonable probability
that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would
have been different.” Ledezma v. State, 626 N.W.2d 134, 143 (Iowa 2001)
(quoting Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 694 (1984)). There is no duty to
raise a meritless issue, so we will consider whether Purnell has raised a valid
sufficiency-of-the-evidence claim. State v. Dudley, 766 N.W.2d 606, 620 (Iowa
2009). If the trial record fails to reveal substantial evidence to support the
1 Effective July 1, 2019, the legislature prohibited an appellate court from addressing an
ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim on direct appeal. 2019 Iowa Acts ch. 140, § 31
(codified at Iowa Code § 814.7 (2019)). The Iowa Supreme Court determined this
statutory amendment applies prospectively only. State v. Macke, 933 N.W.2d 226, 235
(Iowa 2019) (“We conclude the absence of retroactivity language in sections 814.6 and
814.7 means those provisions apply only prospectively and do not apply to cases pending
on July 1, 2019.”). For that reason, the statutory amendment does not affect this case.
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conviction, counsel would be ineffective for failing to raise the issue and prejudice
would result. “On the other hand, if the record reveals substantial evidence,
counsel’s failure to raise the claim of error could not be prejudicial.” State v.
Truesdell, 679 N.W.2d 611, 616 (Iowa 2004).
“Specific intent is present when from the circumstances the offender must
have subjectively desired the prohibited result.” State v. Fountain, 786 N.W.2d
260, 264 (Iowa 2010) (quoting State v. Redmon, 244 N.W.2d 792, 797 (Iowa
1976)). A person’s specific intent is rarely capable of direct proof. Id. Instead,
“[i]ntent may be shown by circumstantial evidence and the reasonable inferences
drawn from that evidence.” State v. Acevedo, 705 N.W.2d 1, 5 (Iowa 2005).
Willful injury “is intended to cause serious injury to another.” Iowa Code
§ 708.4.
“Serious injury” means any of the following:
....
b. Bodily injury which does any of the following:
(1) Creates a substantial risk of death.
(2) Causes serious permanent disfigurement.
(3) Causes protracted loss or impairment of the function of
any bodily member or organ.
Id. § 702.18(1)(b).
There was substantial evidence for the jury to conclude Purnell stabbed
Culps. A reasonable jury could conclude the use of the knife indicated Purnell
intended to inflict serious injury upon another. Evidence confirms the identity of
the only two men engaged in a physical fight started by Purnell. The resulting stab
wounds were deep enough to puncture Culps’s kidney and chest cavity. Culps’s
wounds put him at risk of hemodynamic failure from blood loss and respiratory
failure from being unable to oxygenate his organs, both of which could have been
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fatal if not treated. These facts provide substantial evidence supporting Purnell’s
intent to injure Culps. For these reasons, we find there was substantial evidence
to convince a rational jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Purnell had the specific
intent to cause serious injury to Culps. Purnell’s trial counsel was not ineffective
for failing to raise this claim in the motion for judgment of acquittal.
IV. Disposition.
For these reasons, we affirm Purnell’s conviction.
AFFIRMED.