Court Rulings

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) __ The Iowa Court of Appeals has dismissed
a sex abuse charge against a man accused of fondling a 9-year-old
girl.
Jose Topete-Duenas was convicted of second-degree sexual abuse
in Sioux County and sentenced to 25 years in prison. The court of
appeals ruled Wednesday there was not enough evidence to support
the conviction.
The girl testified that Topete-Duenas put his hand inside her
shorts and underwear when she was at his house to play with his son
in September 2007.
The appeals court ruled that evidence did not establish that
sexual contact occurred.
Topete-Duenas' attorney, Judy Cuevas-Freking, says she is happy
with the court's ruling and her client's impending release.
Sioux County Attorney Coleman McAllister says he felt he proved
the case and is disappointed in the ruling.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) __ An Iowa appeals court has overturned a $10 million award to a businessman who claimed a casino and its owner backed out of an agreement to let him manage the facility.

A three-judge panel of the Iowa Court of Appeals on Wednesday sided with Gerald ``Gary'' Kirke, owner of Wild Rose Entertainment.

Kirke argued he never entered into a contract to hire Signature Management Group president John Pavone to manage the Wild Rose casino and hotel in Emmetsburg.

Included in the contested contract between Kirke and Pavone were provisions to ``enter into an exclusive management agreement'' at a
later date. It also agreed to use ``good faith best efforts'' to negotiate the deal.

Polk County jurors ruled in Pavone's favor in September 2007.

Lawyers for Wild Rose argued the contract was merely an ``agreement
to agree'' on a future management contract.

LE MARS, Iowa (AP) __ A Plymouth County jury has found a northwestern
Iowa man not guilty for a fatal traffic accident near Le Mars in
2007.
Fifty-one-year-old Danny Robinson was charged with homicide by
motor vehicle after a van he was driving struck a South Dakota
woman.
The jury found him not guilty Wednesday.
The victim, 78-year Fern Nielson of Lake Norden, S.D., was hit
near her car just minutes after she used a cell phone to ask for
help for a traffic accident she had been in.
Nielson died later at a Sioux City hospital.

Court Rulings

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Storm Lake Police Reports

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