State of Iowa v. Gordon
Annotate this Case
In this case from the Supreme Court of Iowa, the appellant, David Gordon, a minor at the time of committing his crimes, was charged with theft in the first degree and willful injury resulting in bodily injury. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to ten years in prison for the theft conviction and five years for the assault conviction, with the sentences to run concurrently. Gordon appealed the sentence and also filed a motion requesting reconsideration of the sentence under Iowa Code § 902.4. The district court reconsidered the sentence and placed Gordon on probation for up to five years. Gordon then filed a petition for writ of certiorari challenging his resentencing, arguing that the district court had abused its discretion by not granting him a deferred judgment in its initial sentencing, and then by wrongly concluding that it lacked the authority to do so under § 902.4 when resentencing him.
The Supreme Court of Iowa affirmed the district court's decisions. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in the initial sentencing. It found that the district court had considered and weighed the arguments for and against a deferred judgment, and had thoroughly explained its reasoning for the sentence imposed. As for Gordon's argument about the district court's power to defer judgment when reconsidering a sentence under § 902.4, the Supreme Court held that a deferred judgment involved more than a sentence. It involved the deferring of a judgment adjudicating guilt as well as a sentence. The court concluded that the district court correctly interpreted its authority under § 902.4 when it determined that it could not defer judgment when reconsidering Gordon's sentence. Therefore, the court affirmed Gordon's conviction and sentence and annulled the writ of certiorari.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.