A District Court Judge has denied a request by an Atlantic man to have his 5-year prison sentence reconsidered. According to Cass County Attorney Dan Feistner, Rex Dean McDermott filed his motion on Oct. 6th, asking Judge Jeffrey L. Larson to reconsider the sentence originally imposed on Nov. 12, 2013. The Judge on Monday entered an order denying McDermott’s request for a hearing on the Motion.

Feistner said the court’s action is not subject to appeal, and while McDermott could make one final request to the Judge to reconsider the request for another hearing on the matter, other than that, all criminal appeals have been exhausted and ruled upon by the Iowa Court of Appeals. Pending any other challenges to the matter, such as a civil petition for post-conviction relief, McDermott will remain in custody of the Iowa Department of Corrections until he is paroled.

McDermott was arrested in Oct. 2012 on a felony charge of Willful Injury and a Serious Misdemeanor charge of Domestic Abuse Assault, following an incident involving his wife that occurred at R&B Feeds. An additional felony charge of Domestic Abuse Assault by Strangulation was filed in Dec. 2012.

McDermott plead guilty to the latter charge in Sept., 2013, and in November of that year was sentenced to a maximum of 5-years in prison with credit for time served. McDemott appealed the sentence, but the Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s decision. The Iowa Supreme Court also later affirmed the district court ruling.

McDermott was subsequently transported to the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville, and is currently being held at the Correctional Facility in Ft. Dodge.