The Iowa Supreme Court, in its ruling this week, affirmed sentence of a man found guilty in 2016 Pottawattamie District Court cases for crimes related to his sex acts with two minors in separate cases.  49-year old Kenneth Edward Petty plead guilty to charges of lascivious acts with a child and sexual exploitation of a minor. He challenged his guilty pleas and sentences, claimed he was denied the right to counsel. Petty said the district court failed to comply with the Iowa Rule of Criminal Procedure in accepting his guilty pleas.

He contended that the the court did not adequately inquire into the alleged communication breakdown in the attorney-client relationship, imposed a surcharge in violation of Ex Post Facto clauses of the Iowa and U-S Constitution, and that the court erroneously ordered restitution without first determining his reasonable ability to pay. The Iowa Supreme Court determined Petty did not preserve error on his guilty pleas challenge, and that the record on appeal is insufficient to conduct an ineffective-assistance of counsel analysis. The Justices also found the record on appeal was insufficient to determine whether the lower court adequately inquired into the alleged communication breakdown. Both claims for post-conviction relief were left in-tact, if Petty wishes to pursue them,

The court agreed that the imposition of a surcharge was in violation of Ex Post Facto clauses, and that the lower courts’ erroneously ordered restitution without first determining his reasonable ability to pay, was in violation of the rule of law. They subsequently vacated both and remanded the sentences back to the District Court for entry of a corrected sentence and re-sentencing consistent with the IASUPCO opinion.