State of Iowa v. Harry Jay Perkins Jr., 2015 Iowa App. LEXIS 1245

Perkins assaulted his girlfriend, Camilla; police reported she said they lived together and she suffered a broken hand. Police arrested Perkins and charged him with domestic abuse assault (third offense) and willful injury.
Perkins pleaded guilty to domestic abuse assault in a written plea agreement; the willful-injury charge was dismissed.
During the plea colloquy Perkins expressly denied living with Camilla either at the time of the assault or within the prior year—facts relevant to the statutory definition of "domestic abuse." The State did not challenge that denial at the plea hearing.
Perkins filed, withdrew, and refiled motions in arrest of judgment challenging the plea’s factual basis; he ultimately withdrew the motion and was sentenced to an indeterminate term (up to five years) with a one-year mandatory minimum.
On appeal Perkins argued trial counsel was ineffective for allowing him to plead guilty despite the absence of a factual basis for the domestic-abuse element; the State conceded there was a potential problem with the factual basis.
The court concluded the record showed Perkins affirmatively denied an element of the offense and reversed and remanded, holding counsel was ineffective and the conviction must be vacated for further proceedings.

Issue	State's Argument	Perkins's Argument	Held
Whether Perkins’s guilty plea had a sufficient factual basis for domestic abuse assault (Iowa Code § 708.2A)	The minutes of testimony (Camilla’s statements that they lived together) and other record materials supplied the missing factual basis despite Perkins’s denial.	Trial counsel was ineffective for allowing a guilty plea when Perkins expressly denied the cohabitation element required for domestic-abuse assault.	Reversed and remanded: court found Perkins’s denial of an element meant no factual basis existed and counsel failed an essential duty; prejudice is inherent.

State v. Finney, 834 N.W.2d 46 (Iowa 2013) (factual-basis requirement for guilty pleas and when other record parts may supplement colloquy)
Rhoades v. State, 848 N.W.2d 22 (Iowa 2014) (defendant must acknowledge facts consistent with crime elements; courts cannot accept pleas when defendant denies an element)
State v. Schminkey, 597 N.W.2d 785 (Iowa 1999) (lack of factual basis coupled with counsel allowing plea establishes ineffective assistance and inherent prejudice)
State v. Thorndike, 860 N.W.2d 316 (Iowa 2015) (standard of review for ineffective-assistance claims; two-prong Strickland test applied)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. 1984) (establishes defendant’s burden to prove counsel’s deficient performance and resulting prejudice)
United States v. Adams, 448 F.3d 492 (2d Cir. 2006) (lack of factual basis for a plea is a substantial defect that justifies reversal and remand)