State of Iowa, Appellee v. Kevin Deshay Ambrose, Appellant

Summary

The court affirmed Ambrose's convictions and sentences, holding that he failed to preserve his challenge to the acquittal-first lesser-included-offense instruction and could not establish ineffective-assistance prejudice from it. The court also held that the challenged malice and intent inference instructions were legally permissible and not prejudicial under the facts, and that the trial information adequately invoked the district court's subject matter jurisdiction. Justice Wiggins, concurring specially, would require inference instructions to identify the applicable offense and would reject any presumption that bar-association instructions are correct; Justice Waterman, concurring specially, defended reliance on those instructions and existing precedent.