DES MOINES – The Iowa Court of Appeals has granted a new hearing to a man who was sent to prison 12 years ago for having sex with teen boys while he knew he had HIV.
In 2005, Guy Sudduth – now 52-years-old and formerly of Cedar Falls but now calling a Fort Madison prison his home – entered Alford pleas to two counts of criminal transmission of human immunodeficiency virus and three counts of third-degree sexual abuse. He was given up to 80 years in prison for exposing teen boys to HIV. In 2014, Sudduth filed a postconviction relief application alleging his plea lacked a factual basis and his attorney was ineffective in allowing him to enter the plea and in failing “to complete a competent investigation.” The district court dismissed the application as time-barred.
Sudduth appealed, and the appeals court last week concluded Sudduth has asserted a ground of law that could not have been raised within the applicable time period. His application falls within the “ground of law” exception to the three-year time bar. Sudduth sought a remand for trial on his Application for Post-Conviction Relief. The court reversed the district court’s dismissal of the application and remanded for a postconviction relief hearing – meaning, a potential new trial.
