Iowa case law summary by Attorney Richard Clem: Criminal law, deferred judgment.

David Michael Johnston v. Iowa Department of Transportation. IA Criminal Law, Deferred Judgment

Iowa Code chapter 907 allows for deferred judgment in misdemeanor cases. Under a deferred judgment, the defendant is placed on probation and civil penalties are imposed. If the defendant fulfills the conditions of probation, the defendant is discharged without entry of judgment and the associated criminal record is expunged. In this Polk County case, the Iowa Supreme Court was called upon to determine whether a deferred judgment constitutes a "final conviction" for purposes of mandatory license revocation under Iowa Code 321.209. The court had previously held that a deferred judgment was a conviction for other purposes, and in this case, it held that a deferred judgment was a final conviction under this statute as well.

In what the court called an added twist, the deferred judgment was successfully discharged before the appellate brief was due. In an earlier case, the court had noted that the fact that the judgment had not yet been discharged. The defendant argued that the earlier case was distinguishable for that reason. But the court held that the earlier cases still applied.

The case did prompt a dissenting opinion by Justice McDermott, in which Chief Justice Christensen joined. The dissent would have overruled the earlier precedents, noting that "the court's pulling and stretching of the word 'conviction' over the years is enough to make taffy makers pay homage."

No. 19-0048(Iowa Apr. 16, 2021).

Please see the original opinion for the court's exact language.

Advertisement:

Richard P. Clem is an attorney and continuing legal education (CLE) provider in Minnesota. He has been in private practice in the Twin Cities for 25 years. He has a J.D., cum laude, from Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul and a B.A. in History from the University of Minnesota. His reported cases include: Asociacion Nacional de Pescadores a Pequena Escala o Artesanales de Colombia v. Dow Quimica de Colombia, 988 F.2d 559, rehearing denied, 5 F.3d 530 (5th Cir. 1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1041 (1994); LaMott v. Apple Valley Health Care Center, 465 N.W.2d 585 (Minn. Ct. App. 1991); Abo el Ela v. State, 468 N.W.2d 580 (Minn. Ct. App. 1991).

For more information about attorney Clem, please visit his website.
For more information about his low-cost CLE programs, please visit his CLE page.
Return to index of case summaries

Copyright 2021, Richard P. Clem.
Attorney Richard P. Clem is responsible for the content of this page.

Richard P. Clem, Attorney
PO Box 14957
Minneapolis, MN 55414
USA
Phone: +1-612-378-7751
e-mail: clem.law@usa.net
Minnesota Attorney Registration Number 0192648

Books by Richard Clem:

Please visit my author page at amazon.com