Iowa law does away with one-size-fits-all penalties in cases of robbery

“Most people are pretty surprised that you can go into a bank, hand over a note and rob it and not end up with a felony on your record,” Wilber said.

On July 1 the charge of robbery in the third degree, an aggravated misdemeanor, was added to the Iowa Code.

Wilber said that if a robber has no weapon and no one is injured, the charge would be third-degree robbery — with no mandatory minimum and a sentence of up to two years in prison.

If someone were injured, but not seriously so, then the charge would be second-degree robbery, with a sentence of at least five years and up to 10 years in prison.

If the robbery involves a weapon and a person were seriously injured, then it’s first-degree robbery, with a sentence of at least 17½ years and up to 25 years in prison.

Nebraska robbers, on the other hand, face one blanket charge regardless of the circumstances. A robbery charge means that a suspect intended to steal forcibly and by violence or by putting someone else in fear, Dodge County Attorney Oliver Glass said.

The robbery charge in Nebraska carries a minimum sentence of one year in jail or a maximum of 50 years in prison.

“If a person is convicted, a judge is going to look at everything involved in the crime,” Glass said. “A crime with a loaded handgun in the judge’s eyes is more serious than someone who used a switchblade knife.”

In recent years the Iowa Department of Human Rights’ Public Safety Advisory Board has lobbied lawmakers to take a second look at mandatory minimums, especially on nonviolent crimes.

Thomas Walton, chairman of the Public Safety Advisory Board, said it’s important that the criminal justice system gets rid of one-size-fits-all penalties. He said law enforcement officers are getting better at risk assessments and determining whether a defendant will be able to avoid violence after being released.

“We want to give more discretion to the parole boards to make judgments as to who is likely to be violent or nonviolent in the future and to only keep people in prison for as long as necessary,” Walton said. “The general idea is that (we) want to look at each defendant more individually.”

The board’s effort played a big role in the passage of a sentencing reform bill that Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed into law on May 13. The creation of the third-degree robbery charge was among the bill’s provisions.

Wilber said the sentencing reform bill will affect many cases.

“I really don’t think bank tellers are going to be too happy about this new law,” Wilber said.

Several defense attorneys have been waiting until July and implementation of the new laws to take their clients to court.

“This new crime and classification suggests to me that the Legislature has recognized that excessively harsh sentencing laws should not be applicable to every individual or in every case,” said Peter Tenny, a defense attorney. “Considerations of justice must be given to the circumstances of each case.”

This report contains material from the World-Herald News Service.

Contact the writer: 402-444-1068, alia.conley@owh.com