Case No. 24-1166

State of Iowa
v.
Malorie Lynn Hallock

Resister

State of Iowa

Applicant

Malorie Lynn Hallock

Attorney for the Resister

Joshua Henry

Attorney for the Applicant

Denise M. Gonyea

Supreme Court

Oral Argument Schedule

Non-Oral

Dec 16, 2025 1:30 PM

Briefs

Court of Appeals

Court of Appeals Opinion

Summary

            Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Cerro Gordo County, Gregg R. Rosenbladt, Judge.  AFFIRMED.  Considered without oral argument by Tabor, C.J., and Ahlers and Langholz, JJ.  Opinion by Ahlers, J.  Special concurrence by Tabor, C.J.  (7 pages)

            Malorie Hallock appeals the sentence imposed following her guilty plea.  She claims the district court abused its discretion when it did not follow the joint sentencing recommendation contained in the plea agreement and considered unproven facts contained in the victim impact statement.  OPINION HOLDS: The district court did not abuse its discretion when it did not adopt the joint sentencing recommendation.  Hallock failed to preserve error on her challenge to the victim impact statement.  Moreover, she cannot establish that the district court considered any unproven fact from the victim impact statement when making its sentencing determination.  SPECIAL CONCURRENCE ASSERTS: I would reject the State’s error preservation argument on the potential use of improper factors based on unproven conduct in the victim impact statement.  Requiring the defendant to object undermines the purpose of the statement and the trust we place in district courts to filter out improper or irrelevant evidence.  On the merits, because the record does not show the court relied on the unproven conduct, I concur specially.

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