MASON CITY – An Iowa Appeals Court has upheld the sentence of a Mason City man after a guilty plea to felony third offense operating while intoxicated.
Jacob Fesko, age 26, appealed a sentence imposed by Judge Annette Boehlje in November of 2013 following his plea of guilty to the offense of operating while under the influence, third or subsequent offense. Fesko contended that the district court erred in failing to order him to undergo a substance abuse evaluation prior to sentencing, as required by Iowa Code. He also contended the district court abused its discretion by imposing a sentence more severe than the jointly-recommended sentence without first informing Fesko the court was not bound by the plea agreement. Boehlje had sentenced Fesko to serve a term of incarceration not to exceed five years with a mandatory minimum of thirty days and imposed fines and court fees totaling $5,057.32.
The Appeals Court determined that Fesko was already enrolled in a substance abuse program and was not obligated to order him to continue, since he had already indicated he needed help and was going to continue the program he was in. The court also determined that the district court is free to impose any sentence within the statutory maximum and refused to reverse the sentence absent an abuse of discretion.
SUBJECT IS INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY
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On weekends the police patrol the downtowns at night like sharks out on a feeding frenzy. It’s a ridiculous contradiction of values at the customer’s / citizen’s expense. Microbrews alone contain high enough alcohol content to put you over the limit in 1 beer. New guidelines need to be developed…new rules for the game. When the population reaches the 50% mark of people who have DUI’s on their records, I think we better rethink things. What’s it currently at? Anyone know?
@Philly-Now this comment by you makes good sense. Obviously the tougher laws have not done what they thought they would. They are just making more criminals out of otherwise honest people.
If someone could invent a service where anyone can call and a car will come and pick them up and take them wherever they wanted for money… Oh yeah that’s called a taxi.
@Anonymous. Excellent point. These days it seems that not many are willing to be or are capable of being responsible for their own actions.
Using some peoples flawed logic, maybe we should raise the speed limit on the interstates then too since lots of people are speeding.
@Buzz-I believe they have already done that at least once.
When I lived in Iowa I used to walk and ride my bike among this feeding frenzy…I didn’t drink. It was scary how reckless the police would speed downtown. Almost got hit more than once. Definitely a shark feeding frenzy. Cops are predators.