News Track: Bill seeks ‘truth in sentencing’ for violent offenders

A Cedar Rapids man prosecuted in October 2019 for assaulting his estranged wife for three hours was sentenced to 40 years with a mandatory 20 years to serve before being eligible for parole.

The wife was relieved after the sentencing because she believed her husband, Nathan Brocks, 40, would at least be behind bars for two decades. But then she attempted to finalize a divorce from Brocks last year and found out from the Iowa Department of Corrections that his release date will be April 2028 — meaning he will serve only about nine years, which is 11 years less than the mandatory minimum.

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said he learned of this and discovered Brocks was receiving earned — or good-time — credit that inmates receive for good behavior.

Inmates can receive about 1.2 days of credit for every day in prison. For example, if a prisoner was sentenced to 25 years, with earned time he or she could be released after serving just over 11 years, according to the Iowa Department of Corrections.

Maybanks didn’t think earned credits could reduce mandatory minimums for repeat and violent offenders, like Brocks. Brocks was convicted of first-degree burglary, third-degree kidnapping, assault causing bodily injury (domestic assault) and obstruction of emergency communications.

According to evidence at trial, Brocks punched and kicked the woman in the face — hitting her about 15 times, she said. He also dragged her by her hair on the ground and through broken glass and continued to beat her for the next three hours.

The woman said Brocks wouldn’t leave her apartment, threatening to kill her. She finally got away from him after spraying him with “bear mace” that a friend had given her to protect herself from Brocks.

Maybanks started looking at the current law about earned credit and discovered it could indeed be applied to mandatory minimums, even for habitual or violent offenders.

What’s happened since

In January, Maybanks said the Brocks case led to his decision to reach out to state Sen. Charlie McClintock, R-Alburnett, a member of the Justice System Appropriations Subcommittee, to talk to him about the importance of “truth in sentencing.”

“If a law carries with it a mandatory minimum, offenders ought to serve the mandatory minimum,” Maybanks said.

McClintock said he wasn’t aware of the law until Maybanks contacted him. He decided to introduce Senate File 61, along with Sen. Molly Donahue, D-Cedar Rapids, to correct it so the more serious offenders wouldn’t be allowed to reduce their mandatory minimum terms.

McClintock is a former Cedar Rapids police officer and 911 manager for the department.

The bill would amend the current law so any earned time credit can’t be applied to mandatory minimums for Iowa Code sections 902.7 (forcible felonies while possessing dangerous weapon); 902.8 (habitual offenders); and 902.11 (those who commit a felony within five years of conviction on a forcible felony before being eligible for parole).

The earned time wouldn’t reduce the mandatory minimums for those crimes. But other convictions, including distribution of controlled substances to a person under age 18 or conspiring to manufacture or deliver amphetamine or methamphetamine to a minor, could still have the earned time credit apply to reduce mandatory minimum sentences.

The Senate Judiciary Committee recommended passage of the bill Jan. 31, but it has not been considered by the House at this time.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com