State v. Spates

TERNUS, Chief Justice.

The appellant, Christopher Spates, was convicted of first-degree felony murder for the killing of a bystander during a gun battle between rival groups in Waterloo, Iowa. Spates raised several issues on appeal, but they were all rejected by the Iowa Court of Appeals. This court subsequently granted his application for further review for purposes of considering two allegations of trial court error: (1) the failure to give an instruction on voluntary manslaughter and (2) the submission of a “mutual combat” instruction.

We conclude error was not preserved on the trial court’s…