State of Iowa
v.
Harold Lathrop
Appellee
State of Iowa
Appellant
Harold Lathrop
Attorney for the Appellee
Kyle P. Hanson, Assistant Attorney General
Attorney for the Appellant
Ashley Stewart, Assistant Appellate Defender
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Marshall County, Kim M. Riley, District Associate Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Tabor, P.J., and Mullins and Bower, JJ. Opinion by Tabor, P.J. (7 pages)
Harold Lathrop challenges his sentence following convictions for second-degree theft and driving while barred. First, he contends the sentencing court did not provide sufficient reasons for imposing the sentence following his plea of guilty by plea agreement. Second, he contends the court’s order that he pay an at-that-time unknown amount of restitution was an abuse of discretion because the court did not determine whether he had the reasonable ability to pay. OPINION HOLDS: First, because there is a diminished duty to give reasons for the sentence where the sentencing court accepts and adopts the parties’ plea agreement, we find no abuse of discretion in the court’s sentencing. Second, the sentencing court had no obligation to make an ability-to-pay determination until it entered a plan of restitution, which had not been done in this case. As the court had no obligation to make the determination, we find Lathrop’s challenge to be premature. We affirm.