State v. Iowa District Court for Woodbury County
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The Supreme Court vacated Defendant's sentence and remanded this case for resentencing, holding that the district court imposed an illegal sentence by choosing not to impose the requirements set forth in Iowa Code 124.401(5)(f).
Pursuant to a plea agreement, Defendant pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine, third or subsequent offense, a class D felony, in violation of section 124.401(5). At the sentencing hearing, Defendant asked that he be sentenced to a fine. The State responded that a fine alone would be an illegal sentence under Iowa Code 901.5. The district court orally sentenced Defendant to the minimum fine only. The State filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence. The Supreme Court vacated the sentence, holding that the district court's fine-only sentence was illegal because, in choosing not to impose probation subject to random drug testing and at least a suspended sentence of the minimum forty-eight-hour term of imprisonment required under section 124.401(5)(f), the sentence lacked statutory authorization.
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