State of Iowa v. Hillary Lee Tyler

I respectfully concur in part IV and dissent from part III of the majority opinion. The majority correctly concludes the district court properly denied Tyler’s motion to suppress her confessions that she drowned her baby in the bathtub. Yet, the majority erroneously concludes the district court abused its discretion by allowing the medical examiner to testify as to the cause and manner of death because he relied on the same voluntary confessions the jury was allowed to hear. Medical experts testifying in our courts routinely rely on patient histories. Medical examiners such as Dr. Thompson…