The seventh appeal seems to be the end of the road for a 28-year-old Carroll man who was convicted in June of 2010 for sexually assaulting a child. In June of 2019, the Iowa Court of Appeals ruled that the possibility of future postconviction relief action on claims of ineffective council made by Jesse Neitzel could be brought in the future. On Wednesday, however, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal, sending it back to the lower court for them to administer the final ruling. Court documents filed by the clerk of the Supreme Court state that the appeals court is now directed to “proceed in the manner required by law and consistent with the opinion of the court.” Neitzel was 16 years old when it was alleged he had sexually abused a seven-year-old child. He was later found guilty of the class B forcible felony and sentenced to 25 years in prison with a mandatory minimum of 17.5 years. Since that conviction and sentencing, Neitzel has been filing appeals. The seventh was brought about after his own counsel wrote, “In light of Counsel’s ethical duty to the tribunal to present meritorious and non-frivolous evidence and argument, Counsel cannot join with the Applicant’s petition for postconviction relief and takes no position to argue the same.” Neitzel had claimed this attorney was ineffective in allowing the action to be dismissed.
