Stephen Andrea Marks
v.
State of Iowa
Appellant
Stephen Andrea Marks
Appellee
State of Iowa
Attorney for the Appellant
Thomas Hurd
Attorney for the Appellee
Kevin Cmelik, Assistant Attorney General
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Scott County, Tom Reidel, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Bower, C.J., and May and Greer, JJ. Opinion by May, J. (4 pages)
Stephen Marks was convicted of second-degree robbery and sentenced under Iowa Code section 902.12(5) (2013), which required a seventy percent mandatory minimum. In 2016, the statute was amended to allow a range of fifty to seventy percent mandatory minimum for second-degree robbery sentences. See Iowa Code § 902.12(3) (2016). Marks filed a postconviction-relief application arguing the amended statute should apply retroactively. OPINION HOLDS: By its plain words, the 2016 amendment only applies prospectively. Moreover, we are not persuaded by Marks’s due process, equal protection, and cruel-and-unusual-punishment claims. Therefore, we affirm the denial of Marks’s postconviction-relief application.
