State of Iowa v. Tony Wangmeng Lee, 15-1806

Background

Defendant Tony Wangmeng Lee was charged with multiple counts including forcible procurement of consent to termination of pregnancy under Iowa Code §707.8(5), assault while participating in a felony, tampering with a witness, and related assault counts arising from incidents in 2012 and 2014 involving his then-partner M.V.
M.V. testified Lee forced her to take pills (on multiple occasions in 2012 and in Feb–Mar 2014) at knife-point and threatened her, causing bleeding and, in prior instances, miscarriage; Lee denied giving abortion pills and disputed other allegations.
The jury convicted Lee on two §707.8(5) counts (Feb. and March 2014), one assault-while-participating-in-felony count (tied to Feb. 2014), a simple-assault conviction (lesser-included), and tampering with a witness; other counts were acquitted or dismissed.
Defense counsel did not object to jury instructions that omitted an explicit element requiring actual termination of a pregnancy for §707.8(5) convictions.
On appeal the principal question was whether §707.8(5) criminalizes merely procuring consent to terminate a pregnancy by force/intimidation or whether it requires that the pregnancy actually be terminated as a result.
The court concluded §707.8(5) requires a resulting termination of pregnancy; because there was no evidence the 2014 pregnancy terminated before April 25, 2014, convictions on counts tied to that pregnancy (counts 4, 5, and related assault count 8) were reversed; convictions for tampering with a witness and two assault counts were affirmed; remand for corrected judgment and resentencing followed.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether §707.8(5) requires an actual termination of pregnancy	State: statute penalizes forcible procurement of consent and does not require proof of actual termination	Lee: statutory context, history, and purpose show §707.8(5) requires resulting termination or serious injury to pregnancy	Court: §707.8(5) requires termination of pregnancy; convictions tied to 2014 pregnancy reversed where no proof of termination before April 25, 2014
Ineffective assistance for failing to object to jury instructions omitting termination element	State: no merit to instruction error claim	Lee: counsel breached duty by not requesting element and prejudice resulted because jury never determined termination	Court: counsel breached duty and prejudice shown; error pervasive; reversed counts 4, 5, and 8
Sufficiency of evidence for convictions tied to 2014 pregnancy and related felony-assault counts	State: testimony and other evidence supported forced ingestion and assault	Lee: insufficient evidence that forced procurement caused termination; trial motion for acquittal was too general	Court: acquittal motion if properly raised would have succeeded as to §707.8(5) counts and felony-assault greater offenses; lesser-included assaults supported and retained; remand to convert one felony-assault conviction to assault and resentence
Admissibility of prior-bad-acts (O.L.'s testimony) and interpreter/continuance claims	State: prior acts admissible for non-character purposes; interpreter use was reasonable	Lee: O.L.'s testimony was prejudicial; trial should have been continued until two certified interpreters available	Court: any error admitting O.L.'s testimony was not prejudicial to remaining convictions; denial of continuance not an abuse of discretion

Key Cases Cited

State v. Truesdell, 679 N.W.2d 611 (Iowa 2004) (standard of review for ineffective-assistance claims)
State v. Serrato, 787 N.W.2d 462 (Iowa 2010) (§707.8(1) requires termination of pregnancy)
State v. Hippler, 545 N.W.2d 568 (Iowa 1996) (elements analysis for nonconsensual termination statutes)
State v. Fountain, 786 N.W.2d 260 (Iowa 2010) (when appellate court may address ineffective-assistance claims on direct appeal)
State v. Schoelerman, 315 N.W.2d 67 (Iowa 1982) (counsel must be familiar with applicable criminal-code provisions)
State v. Maxwell, 743 N.W.2d 185 (Iowa 2008) (prejudice analysis for failure-to-preserve instructional error)
State v. Thorndike, 860 N.W.2d 316 (Iowa 2015) (no prejudice if jury would have reached same verdict with correct instruction)
State v. Petrie, 478 N.W.2d 620 (Iowa 1991) (defendant cannot be taxed costs for acquitted charges)