State of Iowa v. Nickalas Michael Lawrence Spiker, 16-2090

In February 2015, 16-year-old Nickalas Spiker engaged in a sexual act with a 13-year-old (A.D.); he pled guilty to lascivious acts with a child under Iowa Code section 709.8.
Plea agreement: State recommended minimum fine, suspended sentence, and placement in youthful-sex-offender program.
At sentencing, the district court repeatedly characterized the offense as forcible oral sex and referenced minutes of testimony describing threats and another victim (E.R.).
After sentencing to a term not to exceed ten years, counsel for both parties alerted the court that the forcible oral-sex description and references to E.R. were not the charged conduct.
The court admitted it had relied on irrelevant/unproven portions of the minutes (stating it had “made a mistake”) and corrected the record, but it did not change the imposed sentence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the sentencing court relied on uncharged/unproven conduct (minutes referencing forcible oral sex and another victim) such that due process was violated	State argued the sentence was appropriate and the court’s references reflected the record/context	Spiker argued the court relied on unproven, uncharged facts from the minutes, violating his due-process rights and requiring resentencing	Court held the district court did rely on impermissible factors; because the court could not show the weight given those factors, the sentence was vacated and the case remanded for resentencing before a different judge
Whether the conviction should be reversed	State maintained conviction proper on guilty plea	Spiker sought relief based on sentencing error but not reversal of conviction	Court affirmed Spiker’s conviction

State v. Cheatheam, 569 N.W.2d 820 (Iowa 1997) (standard for appellate review of sentencing abuse of discretion)
State v. Delaney, 526 N.W.2d 170 (Iowa Ct. App. 1994) (sentencing court may consider unprosecuted offenses only if admitted or proven at sentencing)
State v. Black, 324 N.W.2d 313 (Iowa 1982) (limitations on considering unproven allegations at sentencing)
State v. Lovell, 857 N.W.2d 241 (Iowa 2014) (improper reliance on unproven facts requires vacatur and resentencing before a different judge)
State v. Ragland, 836 N.W.2d 107 (Iowa 2013) (de novo review for constitutional claims)