Mason City man already in prison must serve 30 day jail sentence

DES MOINES – A Mason City criminal already planted in a prison cell must serve 30 days for driving while barred, a court ruled.

Aaron Hermen, age 26 of Mason City but now calling the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility home, pled guilty to driving while barred. Prosecutors agreed to recommend ten days in jail and the minimum fine and to dismiss the remaining charge of driving while license was denied or revoked. Hermen argued for a seven-day jail term. The court sentenced him to thirty days in jail with a minimum fine. Hermen appealed, claiming the court improperly emphasized his criminal record in reaching its sentencing decision and the State breached the plea agreement by telling the court of his criminal history. We affirm.

The Iowa Court of Appeals said that the record shows the court considered several appropriate factors in reaching its sentencing decision and did not abuse its discretion. The prosecutor recited only factual criminal history in support of the recommendation, which it agreed to make in the plea agreement. This criminal history also appeared elsewhere in the record. The court upheld his sentence.

This is the second appeal Hermen has lost this year.

Hermen appealed the sentences imposed by Judge Salic following his guilty pleas to the charges of domestic abuse assault by strangulation, OWI third offense, and child endangerment. He contended his trial counsel was ineffective in not objecting to the State’s supposed breach of the plea agreement and the trial court abused its discretion in sentencing.  Hermen had been free on bond for months while he appealed.

On April 16, 2014, the Iowa Court of Appeals upheld the conviction and sentences imposed by Judge Salic. He was then sent to prison in Fort Dodge.