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State v. Njenga6/15/2005
r supreme court declined "to interpret the Iowa Constitution to afford more protection than the federal constitution with respect to the use of prior uncounseled misdemeanor convictions." Id. at 690. The supreme court specifically held that the "Iowa Constitution does not forbid the use of a prior uncounseled misdemeanor conviction for enhancement of a later conviction, so long as the defendant was not incarcerated for the prior conviction." Id. at 693. Based on our supreme court's pronouncements in Allen, we conclude Njenga was not entitled to any more protection than the Sixth Amendment provides. Accordingly, we decline Njenda's invitation to conclude that Article I, section 10 of the Iowa Constitution requires the colloquy set forth in State v. Tovar for waiver of counsel purposes.
We also conclude that the record fails to demonstrate an invalid waiver of counsel occurred during the 2001 guilty plea proceedings in Minnesota. The United States Supreme Court in Iowa v. Tovar, 540 U.S. at 78, 124 S.Ct. at 1381, 158 L.Ed. 2d at 160, stated:
The constitutional requirement [for waiver of counsel] is satisfied when the trial court informs the accused of the nature of the charges against him, of his right to be counseled regarding his plea, and the range of allowable punishments attendant upon the entry of a guilty plea.
The record shows that Njenga was told of and understood his right to counsel, the elements of the offense, and the punishment he faced in 2001. Njenga filed a written plea petition which referred to his waiver of counsel. His plea colloquy with the court addressed the waiver of counsel. He also watched a video before pleading guilty which addressed his rights. We find that Njenga failed to show that his waiver of counsel was invalid.
We conclude the district court correctly used Njenga's previous OWI conviction in Minnesota to enhance his present offense to OWI, second offense.
AFFIRMED.
Page 1 2 Iowa DUI Attorneys
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