Appeal denied for Zyriah Schlitter in daughter's 2010 death

CEDAR RAPIDS - An appeal was denied Wednesday for a Cedar Rapids man convicted last year in the death of his 17-month-old daughter.

The Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction of Zyriah Schlitter, 25, who is serving 50 years for the 2010 death of his 17-month-old daughter Kamryn. Court records indicate Kamryn died of severe head injuries caused by a shaking or slamming.

Schlitter was found guilty last December of voluntary manslaughter and child endangerment resulting in death.

According to testimony, Schlitter and ex-girlfriend Amy Parmer, 29, of Hiawatha, either individually or jointly, inflicted the fatal injuries to Kamryn, knowingly permitted the other to abuse her and/or failed to protect the child from the other. Parmer was also convicted earlier this year for child endangerment resulting in death and involuntary manslaughter.

In his appeal, Schlitter argued the trial court should have suppressed statements he made during a March 30, 2010 police interview because it violated his Miranda rights and his lawyer provided ineffective assistance by failing to move for acquittal on lesser offenses, failure to object in a timely manner to prosecutorial misconduct and failure to investigate.

According to the appeal, Schlitter wasn't in custody during the interview and there was no Miranda issue. He answered questions willingly and eventually ended the interview and left without being arrested. 

The ineffective counsel issue isn't usually taken up in direct appeal, but because the record is sufficient in this case the appeals court did review it. The appeal is 50 pages and includes highlights of the trial transcript. The court went over each of the elements of the charges, witness testimony, medical evidence, texts between Schlitter and Parmer and even the email Parmer sent to Schlitter about symptoms of shaken baby syndrome and head trauma.

'A reasonable jury could conclude the injuries resulted from abuse by Schlitter or Parmer or both, since joint efforts were made to understand the symptoms of abuse before they were subject to additional police interviews,” according to the appeal.

The appeal included the incriminating text messages between the two three days after Kamryn's death that showed Schlitter's intimate relationship with Parmer 'took priority” over Kamryn.

'We are free to do more without worrying about being walked in on lol,” according to Schlitter's text presented in trial.

A jury could conclude he 'callously” chose Parmer over his daughter, the court stated.

The court also ruled a reasonable jury could find Schlitter guilty beyond a reasonable doubt under each of the jury instruction's four alternatives for child endangerment resulting in death. His lawyer didn't breach any duty in failing to move for an acquittal on the lesser offenses.

The court also ruled Schlitter's lawyer wasn't ineffective in failing to make a 'meritless” objection to the prosecutor's statements in closings and that Schlitter was prejudiced because his lawyer failed to investigate a co-worker who testified at Parmer's trial but not his about Parmer's deceitfulness. The court cited others who testified at Schlitter's trial about Parmer's deceitfulness and concluded the outcome of Schlitter's trial wouldn't have been any different.