(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Supreme Court has rejected an appeal filed on behalf of a man diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia who was convicted of a sex crime. Dantreon Newman was arrested in Des Moines in 2019. A 13-year-old girl told police that Newman, who was 22 at the time, had forced her to have sex in an abandoned apartment. Police described him as homeless. He pleaded guilty to lascivious acts with a child. The attorneys handling his appeal argue the district court judge should have held a competency hearing before Newman’s trial.

The Supreme Court has ruled Newman — who was taking medication for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and A-D-D at the time of his trial — was competent, had a lucid conversation with the judge about his guilty plea and appreciated the consequences of that plea.