Iowa Supreme Court denies further review of Mason City man’s sexual abuse, assault convictions

DES MOINES — The Iowa Supreme Court has denied further review of a Mason City man’s conviction on sexual abuse and assault charges.

Moises Erreguin-Labra was convicted in 2023 of third-degree sexual abuse and assault causing bodily injury, but was acquitted on a kidnapping charge. He was accused of kidnapping a woman in June 2022, holding the victim captive, and assaulting them for several days.

Erreguin-Labra had appealed his convictions arguing the district court’s response to a report of unauthorized courtroom photography biased his jury and denied his right to a fair trial.

The court was notified by a juror that someone in the gallery was using a cellphone to take photos of the jury. Later outside the presence of the jury, the court explained that the suspected photographer was Erreguin-Labra’s brother, who turned over his phone to the court, but on inspection, there were no photos of the courtroom.

The court advised the jury regarding their concerns, saying it was Erreguin-Labra’s brother, and that he had been cooperative and unintentionally violating the rules of protocol.

Erreguin-Labra appealed the conviction to the Iowa Court of Appeals saying identifying his brother created a possible bias toward a defense witness, but the Court of Appeals upheld his conviction.

The Supreme Court recently denied further review in that case and 50 others, but granted review to three other cases.