State v. Williams

123 N.W.2d 406, 255 Iowa 657, 1963 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 838

• Court: Supreme Court of Iowa
• Decided: September 17, 1963
• Docket: 51058
• Status: Published

Opinion

Per Curiam

Defendant was charged by county attorney’s information with the crime of operating a motor vehiclé while his" license was .under suspension, in violation of section 321 A. 32, Code, 1962. He pleaded guilty and was fined $200. In default of payment of the fine he is to be confined in the Polk County jail not to exceed 20 days. Defendant’s appeal comes to us upon a clerk’s transcript.

. We think the jail sentence for nonpayment of the fine is too indefinite to be permitted to stand. State v. Jackson, 251 Iowa 537, 546-549, 101 N.W.2d 731, 736-738; State v. Faught, 254 Iowa 1124, 1135, 120 N.W.2d 426, 432. Section 789.17, Code, 1962, requires such a judgment of imprisonment to specify “the extent of the imprisonment, which shall not exceed one day for every three and one-third dollars of the fine.”

“We have the power under Code section 793.18 to ‘modify the judgment, or render such judgment as the district court should have done, * * * or reduce the punishment’ * * * [citing State v. Jackson and State v. Faught, both supra].” State v. Edwards, 255 Iowa 446, 123 N.W.2d 4.

Section 793.18 applies also to appeals to our court from the municipal court: Section 602.44.

We modify the judgment of the municipal court by striking therefrom the words above- italicized, “not to exceedIn default of payment of the fine defendant is to be confined in the Polk County jail 20- days. As thus modified the judgment-is affirmed.—Modified and affirmed.