State of Iowa v. Orlando David Rodriguez

MANSFIELD, Justice.

Orlando Rodriguez appeals his conviction for reckless vehicular homicide based on his guilty plea, claiming he received ineffective assistance of counsel because there was no factual basis to support his plea. We granted further review in this case to address whether an active participant in a drive-away theft of gasoline can be found guilty of reckless vehicular homicide if he was not driving the car when the accident occurred. We find that a passenger can be responsible as a party to the crime under a joint criminal conduct theory and that this case had a factual basis to…