State of Iowa v. Roylee Richardson Jr., 16-1235

Defendant Roylee Richardson Jr. was convicted of intimidation with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm by a felon, willful injury resulting in bodily injury, and going armed with intent after a shooting incident; he was acquitted of conspiracy to commit a forcible felony.
At trial an eyewitness identified Richardson as the shooter; Richardson argued misidentification and lack of specific intent for some counts.
After the State rested Richardson moved for judgment of acquittal generally but did not specifically challenge the intimidation-with-a-dangerous-weapon element that the victim experienced reasonable apprehension of serious injury.
The State introduced a recorded jailhouse phone call attributed to Richardson; the foundation witness explained the jail’s recording system but no witness positively identified the speaker’s voice as Richardson’s.
On appeal Richardson argued (1) insufficient evidence supported the intimidation conviction and (2) trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to admission of the jail-call on authentication and unfair-prejudice grounds.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for intimidation with a dangerous weapon (victim’s reasonable apprehension)	State: Richardson failed to preserve a specific sufficiency challenge; trial record supports jury question because of eyewitness evidence	Richardson: evidence did not show the victim actually experienced reasonable apprehension as required	Not preserved for appellate review; court declined to address the merits
Ineffective assistance for failure to object to admission of jailhouse phone call (authentication and Rule 5.403 unfair prejudice)	State: foundational testimony about the jail’s recording system made the recording accurate and trustworthy; admission could have been cured by additional witness if objected to	Richardson: recording not properly authenticated (no voice identification) and its prejudicial effect outweighed probative value	Record inadequate to resolve ineffective-assistance claim on direct appeal; convictions affirmed and ineffective-assistance claims preserved for postconviction relief

State v. White, 319 N.W.2d 213 (Iowa 1982) (victim must experience reasonable apprehension for intimidation with a dangerous weapon)
State v. Williams, 695 N.W.2d 23 (Iowa 2005) (specificity required in motions for judgment of acquittal to preserve sufficiency issues)
State v. Straw, 709 N.W.2d 128 (Iowa 2006) (standard for reviewing ineffective-assistance claims)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. 1984) (two-prong test for ineffective assistance of counsel)
State v. Weatherly, 519 N.W.2d 824 (Iowa 1994) (recorded-conversation admissibility requires showing accuracy and trustworthiness)
State v. Fannon, 799 N.W.2d 515 (Iowa 2011) (trial counsel not ineffective for failing to raise meritless objections)
State v. Clay, 824 N.W.2d 488 (Iowa 2012) (resolve ineffective-assistance on direct appeal only when record is adequate)
State v. Dallen, 452 N.W.2d 398 (Iowa 1990) (motion in arrest of judgment cannot be used to challenge sufficiency of the evidence)