Once Bitten, Twice Shy?

The Iowa Supreme Court comes across as a bit gun shy in their latest ruling.

Supreme Court ruling reduces sentence for sex offender

The court emphasized it must only interpret laws as written by legislature. It is up to the legislators — not the courts — to change the wording of a law

The Court said state law clearly states any defendant committed to the state department of corrections for supervision “who has probation revoked shall be given credit for such time served.”

I'm no lawyer, I do play one on this blog and the scientific community is united in that fact, but it looks to me like the court erred when they cited Iowa Code Section 907.3 as their reasoning behind their ruling.

Iowa Code Section 907.3

DEFERRED JUDGMENT, DEFERRED SENTENCE, OR SUSPENDED SENTENCE.

Pursuant to section 901.5, the trial court may, upon a plea of guilty, a verdict of guilty, or a special verdict upon which a judgment of conviction may be rendered, exercise any of the options contained in this section. However, this section does not apply to a forcible felony or to a violation of chapter 709 committed by a person who is a mandatory reporter of child abuse under section 232.69 in which the victim is a person who is under the age of eighteen.

1. With the consent of the defendant, the court may defer judgment and may place the defendant on probation upon conditions as it may require. However, a civil penalty shall be assessed as provided in section 907.14 upon the entry of a deferred judgment. Upon a showing that the defendant is not cooperating with the program of probation or is not responding to it, the court may withdraw the defendant from the program, pronounce judgment, and impose any sentence authorized by law.

Quite simply, when your probation officer finds out that you've met several times with a 16-year-old girl and then finds the girl naked under your bed, your butt needs to be behind bars.