IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 21-1408 Filed July 26, 2023 MUBARAK MATTA MUBARAK, Applicant-Appellant, vs. STATE OF IOWA, Respondent-Appellee. ________________________________________________________________ Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, William P. Kelly, Judge. Applicant appeals the district court decision denying his application for postconviction relief following his conviction for first-degree robbery. AFFIRMED. Erin M. Carr of Carr Law Firm, P.L.C., Des Moines, for appellant. Brenna Bird, Attorney General, and Louis S. Sloven, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee State. Considered by Schumacher, P.J., and Chicchelly and Buller, JJ. 2 SCHUMACHER, Presiding Judge. Mubarak Mubarak appeals the district court decision denying his application for postconviction relief (PCR) following his conviction for first-degree robbery. He claims he received ineffective assistance because defense counsel failed to (1) file a motion to suppress to challenge the identification process; (2) file a motion to suppress to challenge the pat-down search; (3) more fully investigate the case, including calling a specific witness; (4) object to the prosecution’s theme during opening statements; and (5) challenge the makeup of the jury because it did not contain an adequate proportion of African-Americans. We conclude Mubarak has not shown he received ineffective assistance, and we affirm the decision of the district court. I. Background Facts & Proceedings The background facts are set out in State v. Mubarak: Early on September 24, 2016, Eh Nwe drove from work to his home at an apartment complex in Des Moines. Shortly before 1:00 a.m., he parked at his complex, but, before he exited his car, a man approached him on foot. Nwe could not “see his face very clear,” but he described the man as black, about five foot and nine or ten inches tall, and not fat. He wore torn blue jeans, a long black jacket with a zipper and a hood that covered his head, and a round silver earring in his right ear. . . . The man set a Budweiser beer can on top of Nwe’s car and told Nwe to give him his phone. . . . When Nwe did not give up his phone, the man pointed a gun at Nwe’s head and told him to hand over his wallet. Nwe was able to deflect the man’s hand, roll up the window, and back up the car, which shined the car’s lights on the man. Nwe immediately called 911 and was able to drive away without surrendering anything. Minutes later, Officer Kyle Thies arrived and met with Nwe. Nwe described the man to Officer Thies, pointed to the area where the man went, and entered his apartment. Officer Thies proceeded to the location Nwe indicated—about fifty yards from where the incident occurred—where he found Mubarak and three other individuals. Mubarak wore a black jacket, blue jeans, and an earring, and he had a can of beer in his hand. Mubarak’s appearance was “identical” to the description Nwe 3 provided, and the other three individuals at the scene did not match the description. Officer Thies detained, …
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