Another Floyd County case sent back for resentencing by Iowa appeals courts

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

For the second time, a sentence handed down in Floyd County District Court has been overturned by an Iowa appeals court and sent back for resentencing because the appeals court said the prosecutor was not forceful enough in recommending the sentence spelled out in a plea agreement.

Both cases involved the same judge, who issued jail sentences even though the plea agreements had recommended suspended prison sentences.

Michael Douglas Ahrenholz, now age 45, was charged with second-degree sexual abuse, a Class B felony; lascivious acts with a child, a Class C felony; and indecent exposure, a serious misdemeanor; for acts that allegedly occurred in 2019.

Ahrenholz pleaded guilty in June 2021 to the charge of lascivious acts with a child, in a plea agreement where the Floyd County Attorney’s Office would drop the sexual abuse and indecent exposure charges and recommend a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, fully suspended, with three to five years probation and other requirements.

But during sentencing in Floyd County District Court in August 2021, Judge DeDra Schroeder imposed a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, with credit for time Ahrenholz had already been in custody in the case. She did not suspend the prison sentence.

A judge is not required to follow the sentencing recommendations and can impose any penalty allowed for the conviction in question.

Ahrenholz appealed the prison sentence, arguing that the county attorney “breached the plea agreement by not advocating for a suspended sentence and undermined the agreement by introducing victim impact statements that requested a sentence different than the plea agreement.”

The Iowa Court of Appeals issued a ruling in February, saying that Assistant County Attorney Randall Tilton “did violate the agreement by failing to advocate adequately for its adoption by the court.”

The appeals court said the victim impact statements, two of which were read in court by the victim and a family member, and another which was read in court by the victim advocate, did not undermine the plea agreement.

Part of the Court of Appeals’ decision regarding the case involves precedent established by another Floyd County case, where the Iowa Supreme Court a year ago in March 2022 overturned the sentence of Shane Michael Davis after he pleaded guilty to lascivious acts with a child, a Class D felony, and indecent acts with a child, an aggravated misdemeanor.

In that case, Judge Schroeder had sentenced Davis to up to 10 years on the felony charge and up to two years on the misdemeanor, and did not suspend the sentences, although the plea agreement had been for the County Attorney’s Office to recommend whatever the sentencing recommendation was in a pre-sentencing investigation (PSI). The PSI had recommended suspended sentences.

In that case, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that County Attorney Rachel Ginbey had not been forceful enough in her recommendation that the PSI recommendation for a suspended sentence be followed.

“This is a case about the prosecutor’s duty to recommend a sentence pursuant to a plea agreement,” the state high court ruled. “Our obligation as a court is to uphold and enforce the parties’ plea agreement. The prosecutor breached the plea agreement by failing to recommend a suspended sentence in the manner required by our precedent.”

Ginbey had told the judge in the original sentencing that the state joined in the recommendations made in the PSI recommendation, but the high court called that “cryptic lip service.”

In a dissent to part of the majority court’s ruling, Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Susan Christiansen had written, “Despite the victims’ calls for a harsher sentence, the prosecutor herself never advocated for a harsher sentence than the PSI report’s recommended sentence, acting in compliance with the plea agreement.”

Christiansen wrote, “I cannot agree with the majority’s decision …  to disregard the rights of victims and turn prosecutors into cheerleaders for the defense when they recommend a sentence pursuant to a plea agreement.”

In the more recent Ahrenholz case, the Iowa Court of Appeals wrote that in order to fulfill its obligation in supporting a plea agreement recommendation, “the prosecutor cannot simply inform the court of the agreement, they must present the recommended sentences with their approval, commend the sentences to the court, and otherwise indicate to the court that the recommended sentences are supported by the state and worthy of the court’s acceptance.”

Quoting the Davis opinion, the appeals court wrote, “the Supreme Court stated, ‘We do not mandate florid advocacy when the state agrees to recommend a particular sentence. But we have made clear the prosecutor must do more than simply recite the agreed recommended sentence. … Here, the prosecutor simply recited the plea agreement. Thus, we find that the State did not comply with this requirement and breached the plea agreement.”

The appeals court vacated Ahrenholz’s sentence and sent the case back to Floyd County District Court for a different judge to sentence him again. That resentencing has been scheduled for April 3.

Ahrenholz has been out on bond since September 2021.